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Laurel Run game to find out how funds awarded

IAN CAMPBELL Times Leader Correspondent

LAUREL RUN – Borough Mayor Dan Gildea questions how the Department of Community and Economic Development is awarding state gaming funds, and is asking his questions in Harrisburg, council was told Thursday.

In letters to state Sen. Raphael Musto and state Rep. John Yudichak, Gildea has asked that DCED explain what were the economic benefits associated with the Hillside Farm project that justified the award of $655,000.

Gildea said that he had hoped that the DCED would recognize the cultural and historical significance of the 103-year-old Giant’s Despair Hill Climb event, which had sought development funding for a planned park.

The hill climb and the park were tourism-revenue generators, Gildea noted.

Gildea also asked the state to explain where Laurel Run’s project, located in a contiguous municipality, was ranked compared to the Hillside Farms application, and how the decision to award one and not the other was reached.

Musto had requested DCED follow up on those points, the mayor had been advised.

Council voted to go ahead with the installation of security cameras in the park area, through grant funds obtained last year, to cut down on illegal access and dumping in the park area. Within the past week, steps had been taken with the assistance of borough landowner Michael Corgan to block off access to the area between Northampton Street and Dickerson Street with a line of large boulders and a dirt barrier.

The cameras will be monitored and recorded, and district magistrates had advised that the recordings would be legally admissible, council was told.

Council was also advised that a fissure discovered off Dickerson Street while the work was taking place was not likely to pose a danger to the community, according to Department of Mines staff who were called to investigate.

The fissure does not contain any voids, and is running west towards Wilkes-Barre Township, the mayor noted.