Luzerne County Council still awaiting work needed to decide on potential land sale

Luzerne County is nearing completion of a survey and subdivision plan needed if council eventually decides to seek purchase offers for hundreds of acres of county-owned land in Butler Township, officials said.

County officials had periodically suggested selling the land for many years to bring in revenue and boost the tax base.

Councilwoman LeeAnn McDermott, who chairs council’s real estate committee, told council last December that no action can be taken on seeking buyers until the county completes a survey and subdivision. At her urging, council agreed to keep approximately $100,000 in the engineering department budget to complete both.

In total, the county owns approximately 530 acres in the township because it operated the Kis-Lyn work camp for juvenile delinquents from 1912 to 1965.

Two sections cannot be sold and must be sectioned out because the county is locked into long-term leases for a youth music camp (17.8 acres) and the Keystone Job Corps Center, which operates a federally funded, residential educational/vocational program on 122.9 acres, officials said.

While a large portion of the remaining 389 acres is considered undevelopable, county officials are confident there is significant value in at least 146.5 acres that had been appraised at $867,000 in 2018. The land is in three sections, including one along Lions Drive and another off West Foothills Drive, and a portion is currently used for farming.

Butler Township Supervisor Vice Chairman Michael Reich said township supervisors changed the zoning of the county-owned land as part of a comprehensive township-wide rezoning unanimously approved this summer.

Much of the county-owned land has been changed from urban residential to suburban residential to allow single homes on individual lots instead of high-density housing units, Reich said.

“There has been a lot of development pressure in our township, and we did this to protect our neighborhoods and put our zoning more in line with the wishes of our residents in how the township is developed going forward,” Reich said.

“Commercial developments should be along a highway, not in the interior of our neighborhoods,” he added.

McDermott welcomed the township zoning update.

“Since they changed zoning, there won’t be a concern that the community will oppose the plans if the county decides to sell the land,” she said.

The real estate committee was created to identify and recommend the sale of unused property to generate revenue and return property to the tax rolls.

McDermott said she will schedule a real estate committee discussion about the survey/subdivision work when she receives information from the administration that it has been completed.

A majority of the 11-member council would have to publicly approve a sale to proceed and then publicly list the available land so anyone would have an opportunity to submit an offer, she said.

“I know there is interest in this land,” she said.

County Operational Services Division Head Gregory Kurtz said the county wants to subdivide some areas to create single family lots. Sections currently farmed could remain in agricultural use, but he expects council will want to get that land into private ownership.

“We’re always looking for ways to increase revenue without raising taxes,” Kurtz said.

Municipal action on the zoning was necessary because the county has no control over the township’s zoning, Kurtz said. He was aware township residents are concerned about large apartment buildings prompted by the regional housing shortage.

“We’re trying to do the best thing for the county and its communities,” Kurtz said. “We want to work with the municipality to do what’s best.”