Plans for Weatherly building project need more work

Plans for a proposed building project that will house Weatherly’s offices need a little more work before they are ready to go, officials said Tuesday.

During the monthly meeting of the Carbon County Planning Commission, the board voted to recommend conditional plan rejection of the Weatherly Borough Building project until 19 issues are resolved. Commission member Dwight Eisenhower abstained from the vote due to a conflict of interest with the project.

Weatherly borough has been working to construct a municipal government complex on the site of the former Tung-Sol Electric Company property for years, but after bids came in higher than expected for the project, the borough has scaled down the project.

It now calls for constructing an 8,600-square-foot building that will house administrative offices, the police station and District Judge Joseph Homanko’s court.

Ivan O. Meixell Jr., county planner, said that the plans do not conform to preliminary/final plan requirements of the borough’s land development ordinances and outlined the issues.

Some things include certifications not signed and notarized, items not shown on plan sheets, a copy of the highway occupancy permit not provided and sewage facilities and erosion and sediment pollution control plans required.

One big issue discussed was the amount of proposed parking spaces, which is inadequate for the size of the building, Meixell noted.

The commission’s recommendation goes to the borough for inclusion with their review of the plan.

The borough and police department are currently located in the town’s historic railroad station, which has limited space. The magisterial district court lacks the security features which other courts in the county have for employees.

Weatherly has more than $2 million in grant funds for the project, including a $1.075 million grant through the governor’s Redevelopment Assistance Capital Program, matched with a $600,000 grant from the Local Share Account and a $475,000 grant redirected from Carbon County that was originally secured through HUD in 2009 by former U.S. Rep. Paul Kanjorski.