FRANKLIN, Pa. (EYT) — The long-awaited Venango County recycling center may have found a home.

(Photo: The rear of the former Sears location at the Cranberry Mall.)

According to Eric Johnson, Senior Planner/Recycling-Solid Waste Coordinator for the Venango County Planning Commission, the Commission is in the final stages of getting a lease signed to use the old Sears Automotive at the Cranberry Mall.

“I stress the word may when I say we may have a location,” Johnson told the Venango County Planning Commission at its monthly meeting Tuesday. “We are negotiating a lease that would have us paying the same as we would have if we had used the maintenance building but with double the outside space and 7,500 square feet inside. We are currently in the final draft stage of the lease agreement.”

Johnson said one of the main advantages of the location is that it would basically be “plug and play.”

“There is not a lot of development to be done,” Johnson said noting that there would be some partitioning of the space and a few other smaller upgrades.

Johnson said there is still a zoning hurdle to be worked out.

“Venango County has put in a request with Cranberry Township concerning the zoning,” Johnson said. “That could be another couple of months but we are hopeful things are going in a positive direction.”

Johnson said the mall owners have given the project a big thumbs up.

“They are enthusiastic about it,” Johnson said.

According to Johnson, the lease would be a long-term lease with an out clause.

“The out clause would be if we lose funding for the program,” Johnson said.

Venango County Planning Executive Director Jason Ruggerio said the mall has been very cooperative.

“They first wanted us have a lease that looked like a Sears lease,” Ruggerio said. “We got them to take a lot of that out.”

Ruggerio said the recycling facility would only take up a small portion of the old Sears store leaving a large marketable area for the mall to still lease.

“The former Sears store is around 86,000 square feet,” Ruggerio said. “With the recycling center, it still leaves over 70,000 square feet and three of the four loading docks. What we are leaving them is very marketable.”

Planning Commission member Greg Smith was very much in favor of the location.

“Everyone already goes there,” Smith said in reference to the mall is where the County holds its periodic special recycling collections.

Planning Commission member John McClelland is hopeful the mall location could spur additional development.

“It could be a draw to bring people in,” McClelland said.

CORNPLANTER SQUARE UPDATE

Ruggerio gave an update on the Cornplanter Square Project.

He said the first and second floors are completely cleared out and the third floor should be done in the next week or two.

Ruggerio said the project will slow down a little bit with the fourth and fifth floors because that is where most of the asbestos is located.

“We are still on track to be done with this part of the project ahead of schedule, by sometime in September,” Ruggerio said.

According to Ruggerio, the roofer will start the first week of July with some inside work and once the roofer gets to the outside work it should be done within a week, weather permitting.

“The third project with the current funding will be the replacement of the exterior doors and windows, Ruggerio said while noting that they want to wait until the roof project is underway before starting that project to make sure the roof doesn’t cost more than anticipated.

BEAR’S FURNITURE ADDITION APPROVED

The Planning Commission gave approval for a building addition to Bear’s Furniture for a 1,619 square foot entrance-way addition to the existing facility.

In addition to the addition, a current gravel parking lot will be paved creating 26 parking spaces.

A lightning waiver was also approved for the project.

SCOTT SNOW GIVEN FINAL EXTENSION FOR SELF-STORAGE BUILDING

After a short discussion on whether or not a second extension should be given to Scott Snow’s approval to construct a self-storage building in Cranberry Township, Snow was granted one final 90-day extension.

Snow was first given approval for the building at the December 18, 2018, Planning Commission meeting and was then given a 90-day extension that ran out May 24, 2019.

Snow said he couldn’t complete the project by May 24 due to unrelated commitments.

A couple of Planning Commission members believed that he should have to start the process over again since the SALDO specifies one 45-day extension that was actually granted as a 90-day extension in the early Spring.

Sue Smith, who was newly appointed to the Planning Commission, asked if Snow could be given one final extension with the condition attached to it that this was his last extension, and the Planning Commission agreed.

Tracy Jamieson then said that she thought a final 90-day extension would be appropriate because “45 days can go by like that.” Again, the rest of the Planning Commission agreed.