Schuylkill agrees to match SEDCO traffic light grant
Schuylkill commissioners last week gave a boost to the continued growth of business and industry in the county.
On Wednesday, county commissioners agreed to allocate $45,468 to the Schuylkill Economic Development Corporation as a match for a grant the corporation is applying for through the state Department of Transportation.
SEDCO has applied for a grant to PennDOT for some safety improvements in their lighting systems. They’re going to upgrade three (traffic) lights out there, which are on county roads,” said County Administrator Gary R. Bender.
The lights are on Highridge Road in Cass Township.
“The upgrades are aimed at traffic safety given the heavy volume of both truck and passenger car traffic within the park. Budget estimates by Alfred Benesch & Company show the project cost at approximately $200,000,” said SEDCO President Frank J. Zukas.
The county’s contribution comes from money from a SEDCO sale.
SEDCO in 2017 sold 54.84 acres in Highridge to Wegman’s.
As a result of a 2001 agreement between the county and SEDCO, the county received $73,815 from the sale, said Financial Director Paul A. Buber.
Zukas explains how the process works at Highridge.
The Highridge Improvement District Authority was created in 2016 by the four taxing bodies: Cass and Foster Townships, Minersville Area School District and the county, which make up the original boundaries of the Highridge Business Park.
The HIDA manages all of the public improvements within its boundaries. That includes including snow removal, street repairs, street lighting, traffic lights, landscaping, and public fire protection.
Each of the taxing bodies allocates a portion of existing property taxes to underwrite the HIDA’s annual budget.
“HIDA, on behalf of Cass and Foster Townships and the county, applied for grants to upgrade the original three traffic lights on the county-owned Keystone Boulevard,” he said.
The lights are 20 years old, and with the grants, through PennDOT’s Green Light Go program, were approved by PennDOT in late 2017. The grants require a 20 percent local match, and actually go to Foster and Cass townships, each of which hold the permits for the lights, Zukas said.
“Today’s action by the commissioners allocated a portion of the $73,815 payment made by SEDCO to the county upon the sale of property within the Highridge Business Park under a 2001 agreement which requires such reimbursement since county bond funds were invested in some of the initial infrastructure in the park,” he said. “Those funds represented the 20 percent local match.”
To date, SEDCO has reimbursed the county $1,277,942 under the 2001 agreement, Zukas said.
SEDCO will seek bids for the work, which is expected to be finished by year’s end.
Commissioners’ Chairman George F. Halcovage Jr. praised the “public-private relationship we have with SEDCO They are very much involved in the economic development of the county.
“The county and SEDCO work together to bring in high-quality, good companies to this area to provide good jobs,” he said.
