Carbon County Planning Commission officials could not make a recommendation on a proposed natural gas compressor station in Kidder Township.

This week, the planning commission reviewed the proposed PennEast pipeline compressor station, located near Route 940 in Kidder near Jack Frost Ski Resort.The plans call for developing approximately 19.3 acres with three 15,900-horsepower gas-driven Solar Mars compressors, space for an additional compressor, an office/warehouse building, three compressor motor control center buildings, a gas cooler motor control center building, a main motor control center building, a flammable materials shed and additional outbuildings and ancillary equipment areas.Marco Calderon, project manager for UGI Energy Services, said that the land that the compressor station will be situated on was purchased from Blue Ridge Real Estate Company and will serve the approximate 120-mile PennEast natural gas pipeline proposed to travel from Luzerne County through a portion of Carbon and to New Jersey.Dale Krysinski, principal project manager for Mott MacDonald, said that the company presented Kidder Township with its preliminary plan for the project.Krysinski said that once complete, the site will have no more than 14 employees working at any time.The company is asking the township for a waiver for the compressor station buildings because they are currently 3 feet taller than the ordinance allows.This is to provide enough clearance for the crane and equipment inside the structures.County Planner Ivan O. Meixell Jr., who outlined the commission’s findings, recommended that the commission recommend approval of waiver requests for sewage and building heights.He said the plan review did not include an in-depth review for stormwater control and erosion and sedimentation control plan requirements because it is currently under review by the Pennsylvania Department of Environmental Protection and the United States Army Corps of Engineers.The commission voted that it could not recommend either preliminary or conditional preliminary plan approval for the project at this time under the current Kidder Township ordinances requirements.