Commission keeps proposed fireworks outlet on table

BY STACI WILSON

Some Choconut Twp. residents expressed concern to the Susquehanna County Planning Commission over the proposed site of a retail fireworks store.

At the December meeting, the Planning Commission tabled the KC Small commercial development plan and following public comment on the plan, the plan remained tabled.

The plan was up for discussion again at a special meeting of the commission held Tuesday, Jan. 8.

“My concern is safety,” said one Meadow Lane woman. She said the building would be situated on a dangerous intersection. The plan, she said, called for no installed sprinkler system with “explosives less than 200-feet from my home.”

She also said Choconut Twp. supervisors had said that they did not feel they had all of the information they needed about the proposed fireworks outlet.

“Your agenda lists (the township had) ‘no objections,’” she said. “What is the truth?”

Concerns were also brought forward about site distances at the intersection of Rt. 267 and Kellum Rd.

“We understand there is no zoning,” said a man who lives near the proposed site. “They have a right to build a building but it should be safe to put in the middle of a residential area.”

Another woman also spoke out against the proposed development. “We’re not out in the middle of nowhere,” she said. “It’s a residential development.

In 2007-08, about one dozen Northern Tier Coalition member municipalities, including Choconut Twp., worked toward adopting a zoning ordinance.

Residents, however, did not support the Coalition’s proposed land use ordinance and none of the member municipalities moved forward to adopt it.

Choconut Twp. supervisors, who helped develop their township’s portion of the zoning ordinance, had identified the Meadow Lane area as a residential zone.