Twelve homes on Church Street in Meshoppen (top) will likely be gone by the end of the year now that borough council has signed the necessary agreements to allow the CBDG-DR buyout project to proceed. Two apartment buildings on Allen Street (one shown above) that will be torn down as part of the flood buyout project.
Story and photos by Rick Hiduk
(Also posted at www.Rocket-Courier.com)
Years of waiting for residents on Church and Allen streets in Meshoppen finally came to an end on Thursday evening as the Meshoppen Borough Council unanimously approved a pair of agreements with Wyoming County that will allow the CDBG-DR Buyout Project to proceed. Grants administrator Lisa Hahn of the Wyoming County Housing & Redevelopment Authority indicated that demolition of the homes could be completed by the end of this year.
Residents in attendance who are participating in the buyout were generally relieved but also expressed sadness at the prospect of leaving a town they love and frustration that the process has taken so long. Some have missed as many as six opportunities to purchase other properties and move because they needed to settle on their existing homes first.
The buyouts had been stalled first in 2017 by protesters who felt the $2.4 million allocated to Meshoppen should be spread throughout the county. The County Commissioners wrangled with the topic for months, working with all of the agencies involved before determining in May that there had been no wrongdoing and wiping their hands of the controversy.
This year, the buyouts were delayed when the Meshoppen council bulked at several of the conditions of conveyance set down by PEMA, restricting use of the properties once they are relinquished to the borough. Approval of the agreement was twice tabled while council waited for solicitor Jonathan Foster to bring them a more palatable version.
“It took us a while to get some of those answers from PEMA,” Foster explained after the meeting. He related that Hahn and county solicitor Paul Litwin contacted him on Monday to remind him that the paperwork, including a signed agreement from the borough council, had to be filed by July 20. The conference call yielded the information that Foster needed to fashion an addendum to the original list of conditions, and the emergency meeting was set for Thursday evening to meet the deadline.
Council president John Bunnell gave Foster the floor as he worked through a document detailing the responsibilities of each participating entity in the Sub-Recipient Maintenance Agreement. Hahn backed up his comments and offered additional clarity as needed.
The borough agreed to initially maintain the properties as open green space – primarily grassy plots. The borough may not construct anything permanent on the properties unless such a structure allows the passage of flood waters, such as an open gazebo. Water and sewer to each property will be capped off by the county’s contractors and may not be reinstated for any reason.
Contractors will try to minimize damage to sidewalks and will work with the borough to repair any that are damaged. The borough will file a report with PEMA every three years to report any changes in land use and, according to Hahn, PEMA will inspect the properties in similar intervals.
Gas royalties will be retained by the homeowners, which affects about half of the 14 properties currently on the buyout list. Any gas rights not currently leased may be leased by the borough with an annual revenue cap of $35,000.
Council member Mike Lloyd asked if dead trees on the properties would be removed in the course of demolition. Foster said that he assumed they would be, but nothing in the document supported that notion. Foster and Meshoppen Mayor Bruce Marshall walked the buyout area prior to the meeting and took a series of photos that can be used to prove “prior condition” in the event of street or sidewalk damage.
There was no hesitation the part of the council to approve the agreements, but Bunnell again expressed his disappointment that the borough was making no money on the buyouts and would in fact be incurring some additional cost in upkeep.
“I would like to address that,” said Church Street resident Nicole Thurman, breaking the silence of the audience. “By signing this tonight, you are taking a step to prevent us homeowners from ever having to go through a flood again – of never having to say that someone died because you couldn’t get them out of there.”
“I love Meshoppen. I love that home. I had really planned to live there the rest of my life,” she continued. “None of us are going to get rich off of this. We are not making money, just as you are not. If we are lucky, we will be able to pay off our mortgages so we can start all over someplace else.”
Bunnell thanked Thurman for her comments and said that the borough council would miss all of them.
The Near and Long-term Future for Church Street
According to Hahn, purchase agreements can be signed as early as next week. While some homeowners are understandably anxious to put this chapter of life behind them, others still need to secure a place to move and will be given that time. Once signed, the homeowners have 90 days to leave the property. Foster expressed hope that demolition could begin at the lower end of Church Street to mitigate sidewalk damage, but the process will likely be determined by the order in which homeowners vacate their homes.
Homeowner Bobbi Gregory, who has lived on Church Street since 2009, asked if the land could be used as a playground for children on that side of Route 6. According to the agreement, it can be so long as PEMA approves the plan and that any playground equipment is not seen as a flood impediment. The borough could develop the land for primitive camping, which could be attractive to river paddlers planning overnight trips due to its proximity to the Susquehanna River. The land can also be conveyed to a nature conservancy with PEMA’s approval to be developed as a bird sanctuary, an example given by Foster.