Commissioners approve LERTAs

It’s no secret that southern Schuylkill County is booming.

St. Luke’s University Health Network and Geisinger are partnering to build a three-story, 120,000-square-foot acute care facility on Route 61 near Orwigsburg. In fact, Route 61 was widened in a $38.4 million project about four years ago, improving the road from Deer Lake to Cressona.

During a workshop meeting Wednesday, the Schuylkill County Commissioners paved the way for more expansion, by approving implementation of LERTA (local economic revitalization tax assistance) districts, in both Orwigsburg and Cressona. Blue Mountain School District has already approved the districts, as well as the boroughs of Orwigsburg and Cressona.

In Orwigsburg, the LERTA district will include the boundaries of the general industrial and transitional industrial zoning districts, as delineated in the Orwigsburg Borough zoning ordinance. The Cressona LERTA district includes 83.1 acres owned by Hydro, the county’s largest employer.

Frank Zukas, president of the Schuylkill Economic Development Corporation, requested the districts. Zukas called the move “a great investment with a bright future for Hydro.”

Hydro is located on the site first occupied by Alcoa Cressona Works, which closed in 1977. In 1979, an Urban Development Action Grant from the US Department of Housing and Urban Development was awarded to Cressona, on behalf of Cressona Aluminum Company. The grant was converted to a $3.3 loan to Cressona Aluminum with a term of 40 years.

For the first 10 years, proceeds from the repayment of the load went to Cressona, totaling $566,788. Thereafter, proceeds were paid to member communities of the Southern Schuylkill Council of Governments. The total amount of the principal and interest reinvested back to Cressona and the COG is more than $7 million, Zukas said. Zukas said that Hydro plans to build a 100,000 square foot building, which will house a new extrusion press.