Avoca residents are actively opposing the construction of a planned waste transfer station at the corner of Pittston Avenue and Main Street, County Council Chair Holly Homschek said Monday.

“We have so many worries. Citizens are afraid, and I can’t blame them because we’ve been down this path before,” Homschek said.

She was referring to cancer and other health problems affecting tens of thousands of residents, blamed on the Kerr-McGee Corp. creosote wood treatment plant, which operated for four decades in the center of the 1,000-square-mile district before closing in 1996.

Kerr-McGee representatives regularly attended the district’s community meetings and assured residents that the operation was environmentally friendly, officials said.

Homschek said she has spoken to many residents who are prepared to show their opposition to the transfer station at an upcoming Luzerne County Zoning Hearing Board hearing on the issue. Their opposition is heightened “because they’ve been lied to before,” she said.

“People are terrified that something like this will happen here,” Homschek said of the plan for the transfer station. “They are still traumatized by Kerr-McGee and all the diseases that were in this city.”

Suggestion

Big Rocks LLC, led by John Terrana of Wyoming Township, is applying for a special permit to operate a construction and demolition waste transfer station on a 4- to 5-acre property and to construct a 11,975-square-foot building on land in a light industrial area.

The case is now before the county’s land use planning hearing committee, as Avoca is one of the municipalities that elected to leave land use planning to the county.

The public hearing will be held on September 3 at 7 p.m. in the jury room on the second floor of the District Court on River Street in Wilkes-Barre.

Terrana said Monday that he could not comment at this time but may issue a statement at some point.

According to the district’s statement on its application for a special permit:

Big Rocks LLC is the legal owner of the project site pursuant to a purchase agreement entered into in June. The property is currently owned by RJ Stella Mineral Realty LLC of Plains Township and is used as a coal mining operation.

The district’s land use ordinance passed in 2021 lists a landfill as a possible special use in an area with light industry.

According to the regulation’s definition, a waste management facility must comply with state laws regarding the management, processing, treatment, storage, transportation and/or disposal of solid waste.

Big Rocks plans to operate a station that will accept solid waste – including wood, metal and construction debris – and transport the waste to larger landfills “the same day.” The company stressed that this station will not accept “putrefactive” waste that can rot, such as food waste.

The Company intends to present testimony from experts and witnesses demonstrating:

• Public services and facilities must be suitable for their intended use.

• Existing/future roads and site access must be adequately equipped for emergency services to avoid unnecessary congestion and ensure the safety and convenience of pedestrian and vehicular traffic.

• The relationship of the proposed use/development to other existing and planned uses and activities in the area must be ‘harmonious’ with regard to the location and the ‘nature and intensity of the use concerned’.

• The character and height of the buildings, walls and fences will also be “harmonious” so that “the use, development and value of the adjacent land are not impaired.”

• The proposed use/development “shall not be more disruptive in its implementation in terms of noise, smoke, odor, vibration or light than the implementation of any other permitted use in the District.”

• The proposed use/development “must not be detrimental to the public interest.”

Issue

Homschek gave a long list of reasons why a transshipment station should not be built in the district, including the impact on the environment.

For example, she pointed to the danger of runoff into Mill Creek and the possibility that the waste received there contains asbestos or other harmful substances.

The operation will also dominate the small community and increase truck traffic there and in neighboring communities, she said.

“This is not a positive thing. I have no problem with moving the city forward, but not when it comes to waste and environmental problems,” she said.

Because the decision on the special permit rests in the hands of the county’s Zoning Hearing Board, county officials have no voting rights in the matter, she said.

“We can only fight this as a community and I expect a very large turnout,” she said.

A town hall meeting is planned, possibly next week, to inform residents, she said.

Homschek said she was deep in her research on Monday and began outreach because she did not want to leave residents in the dark, as was the case last year with the expansion of a car auction business in Duryea.

“I don’t want anyone to think we didn’t try to stop this,” she said.

Reporter Margaret Roarty contributed to this story.