A public hearing Thursday on a proposed all-terrain vehicle park in Luzerne Countyâs South Valley region featured both concerns over potential noise pollution and enthusiasm for the project, which is in the early planning stages.
The Earth Conservancy hosted the remote hearing to take public comment on a feasibility study regarding a proposed ATV park on about 10,000 acres in Newport and Conyngham townships, between Nanticoke and Mocanaqua.
âItâs quite a large area,â said Terry Ostrowski, president/CEO of the Earth Conservancy, a nonprofit dedicated to the reclamation of mine-scarred land.
The conservancy owns about 2,500 acres of the land, and surrounding property owners cooperated with the feasibility study. If an ATV park is developed on the sprawling site, it will not be owned by the conservancy, Ostrowski said.
It looks like this yearâs race for Luzerne County controller might be a rematch of 2017, when incumbent Democrat Michelle Bednar defeated Republican challenger and former controller Walter Griffith.
Griffith and Bednar both said this week they plan to seek their partyâs nomination in the May 18 primary.
Bednar, 54, of Conyngham Twp., will seek a third and final four-year term in the office to which she was first elected in 2013. The county charter limits the controller to three consecutive terms.
Griffith, 66, of Kingston Twp., will make another attempt to regain the office from which he resigned in 2013 as part of a plea agreement in a wiretapping case.