2019 in Review: Office project caused concern

Over the last year, the Carbon County Commissioners attempted to create more office space for several county departments, but were met with much opposition over the proposed location, and eventually indefinitely postponed the project until the new board takes office next year.

The commissioners planned to construct a 66,279-square-foot office building with an associated 110-space parking garage along Susquehanna Street to alleviate the crowded courthouse, providing new space for several departments, as well as creating a fourth courtroom for the potential of an additional judge down the road. The project originally began in June 2018.

But one large concern overshadowed the project — the potential of damaging the historic St. Mark’s and St. John’s Episcopal Church that sits directly above the proposed site, and built into the mountain that would need to be chipped away to create enough room for the building.

In January, the board opened bids for the three-story building and parking garage and learned the project would cost upward of $12.7 million.

But many business owners, led by Mary Shorten, caretaker of St. Mark’s, came out to voice their concerns over how this project would impact the church.

The church’s concern was the effects that removing a portion of the mountain, which serves as the building’s foundation, would have on the building down the road, as well as the priceless historical pieces, such as the large stained glass Tiffany windows, which cannot be replaced if damaged.

In February, Jim Thorpe Borough Council voted to give the county conditional plan approval for the project.

Over the next few months, residents and commissioners grappled over the future of the project and the church.

A lawsuit against Jim Thorpe for its approval of the project as filed in March by the church, asking for the approval decision to be reversed.

On April 11, the county commissioners, in a 2-0 vote with Commissioner William O’Gurek absent, canceled all contracts for Susquehanna Street project.

County solicitor Dan Miscavige, at that meeting, said the action was because of the status of the appeal by St. Mark’s and St. John’s Episcopal Church against Jim Thorpe for its conditional approval of the project.

A month later, O’Gurek announced that the board decided that the new board of commissioners — who will be made up of Commissioner Wayne Nothstein, as well as Chris Lukasevich and Rocky Ahner — should decide if and how the building project should proceed. The announcement came two days after the primary election, which saw Commissioner Thomas J. Gerhard losing his bid for re-election.

Final plans for the project were officially withdrawn from Jim Thorpe Borough Council in August and the suit against the borough was dropped.