Staff writer
niedbala@observer-reporter.com
WAYNESBURG - Franklin Township Planning Commission on Monday recommended the township grant conditional approval to plans for construction of a second building at EverGreene Technology Park.
Horizon Properties plans to construct the 40,000-square foot building on a 4.71-acre parcel of land adjacent to the park's first building. The new building's use is described as office/warehouse.
Mark V. Koontz of Horizon told the commission the company hopes to begin the second building in August and have it "closed in" before winter. The company expects to have the building completed in the spring.
Koontz said the company currently is talking to potential tenants for the new building, though he declined to name any names.
The building will be constructed in a fashion similar to the first building, which also was built by Horizon.
The method involves constructing a concrete slab floor and then pouring concrete exterior walls that when finished will be lifted into place.
The first building was completed in August and now is fully occupied. Tenants include the RJ Lee Group, Westmoreland County Community College and CNX Gas.
The commission voted to recommend the township supervisors grant the plan conditional approval.
Final approval will be given after the erosion and sedimentation control plan is approved and the plan is reviewed for uniform construction code compliance, said Steve Coss, township code enforcement officer.
The company also must submit a plan for any signs that may be erected at the site and a plan showing any lighting facing away from adjacent properties.
Coss noted the stormwater management plan and sewage plan requirements had been approved earlier as part of the township's review of the first phase of the park.
He also said he had received a letter from the county indicating the county-owned park access road is a public thoroughfare. Documentation regarding ownership of the road was a requirement for plan approval.
Donald Chappel, executive director of Greene County Industrial Development Corp., which owns the park property and is overseeing the park's development, also told the commission plans are in the works for a third building at the site.
The park is being developed on a 248-acre site adjacent to Greene County Airport with state and federal grants and loans, including a $2.7 million grant and a $2.74 million loan from the state's Business in Our Sites program.