Luzerne Times

Plans for the Nanticoke/West Nanticoke Bridge replacement project are still under discussion.

Council had voted to use the lion’s share of a new up-to-$55 million, casino-gambling funded infrastructure pot to replace the county-owned bridge over the Susquehanna River, with the understanding council could opt to alter the project list.

The matter is on Tuesday’s council work session agenda. County Councilman Kevin Lescavage sought the discussion to determine if his colleagues are interested in changing the scope to first address most other smaller county road and bridge repairs and hold off on replacement of the Nanticoke/West Nanticoke span.

However, Lescavage and two other council members — Brian Thornton and LeeAnn McDermott — said Friday they believe council discussion is now needed on the fund itself based on concerns they received from some members of the county administration following a committee meeting last week.

Lescavage, Thornton and McDermott said the concerns focused largely on whether future state legislators could someday change the legislation to reduce or eliminate annual casino funds earmarked to the infrastructure program. The three council members declined to identify the administrators, saying the concerns were brought to them confidentially and unsolicited with the intent of making sure there would be no future regrets.

Closing of the infrastructure loan is tentatively scheduled for Thursday.

The way the program is set up under new state legislation, the county redevelopment authority will borrow to create the fund of up to $55 million and repay the loan with $3 million provided annually for 25 years from the casino-gambling Local Share Account (LSA).

A council majority voted last month to adopt an ordinance formally accepting a county loan guarantee, in the unlikely event casino revenue ceases, because the authority agreed to limit use of the borrowed funds to county-owned infrastructure.

McDermott said she believes questions raised by administrators are valid and wants assurance future legislators won’t change course.

“I don’t want to tie the hands of future council members and taxpayers,” McDermott said.

Thornton and Lescavage said their initial reservations about providing a guarantee are now heightened as a result of questions that have raised.

In response, state Sen. John Yudichak, I-Swoyersville, released a legal memorandum Saturday, which he said had been provided to county officials in April. It was produced by Attorney Merritt Reitzel, legal counsel to the Senate Community Economic and Recreational Committee chaired by Yudichak.

The memorandum said a contract — like the one tied to the new infrastructure fund and related borrowing — is controlled by the law that is in effect when it is executed. Any subsequent changes in the law cannot affect the contractual parties’ rights and duties to carry out that agreement, the memorandum said. This ensures continuity and predictability in business.

Act 24 of 2021, the legislation creating the infrastructure fund, says the $3 million must be paid annually for 25 years to fund the debt service once the state has been notified of the issuance of debt.

The state constitution says no law shall be passed “impairing the obligation of contracts,” the memorandum said.

“It is well settled that the contracts clauses of the U.S. and PA Constitutions protect contracts that were freely entered into by the parties and prohibit the legislature from enacting laws that retroactively impair contract rights,” the memorandum said.

“The suggestion that a future act of the legislature or a future action of a Governor can alter the conditions of Act 24 of 2021 related to the Luzerne County Infrastructure Program or sever established contracts under the law is, according to the legal counsel provided to me, factually incorrect and misleading,” Yudichak said.

Bridge need

Both the county engineer and leaders in municipalities reliant on the Nanticoke/West Nanticoke Bridge say its replacement is necessary.

The span was downgraded to a 15-ton weight limit in 2020 due to issues found in an inspection.

The county has no other funds set aside to cover this expense, and officials have said it would take at least a decade, possibly much longer, for the bridge to receive federal and state funding allocations based on the large number of infrastructure requests. The next inspection may result in lower weight limits and/or a future closure, the county administration has said.

Without the casino funding, county Engineer Lawrence Plesh said the only potential option to fund the span would be a new federal grant. The administration recently applied for a Bridge Investment Program grant through the Federal Highway Administration, which would require a county match, Plesh said. He is hoping to learn at the start of 2023 whether the application has been successful.

Replacement is necessary because there is no rehabilitation that can be completed to preserve the load-bearing capacity, Plesh said.

“You cannot piecemeal work on a bridge of that size and age. It’s a 100-year-old bridge, and you have to replace the whole thing at once,” he said.

Once design is underway, there could be options to salvage piers or scale back other work to reduce the replacement cost, he said.

“We don’t know that yet. It could drop to $27 million or less. We have to wait until we find out what we’re looking at,” Plesh said.

Replacement of the bridge must be a top priority because it dropped to a 15-ton limit and could be further reduced or shut down at any point if warranted based on an inspection, Plesh said.

Plesh said he wants to address the bridge first because it is the most expensive, high-priority project. Smaller roads and bridges can be tackled in phases, concentrating on the most deteriorated road sections and spans first and repairing the rest as funds become available, he said.

Plesh stressed his opinion on the need for a replacement bridge has nothing to do with a potential plan for Houston, Texas-based Nacero Inc. to build a $6 billion manufacturing facility in that area.

The bridge is “not going to get better” and is “aging fast,” he said.

“It is the right thing to do to get that completely redone and off the books,” Plesh said.

Nanticoke Mayor Kevin Coughlin said loss of the bridge would be “catastrophic for public safety” and cause “unthinkable conditions.”

South Valley community leaders also identified the bridge as essential for continued development, he said.

County officials prioritized a plan to replace the county-owned Firefighters’ Memorial Bridge linking West Pittston and Pittston, and citizens reliant on the Nanticoke/West Nanticoke Bridge deserve the same focus on their needs, Coughlin said.

Putting off the project will cause the cost to skyrocket, he said.

“Taxpayers in the South Valley want their public safety and economic development needs addressed by Luzerne County,” Coughlin said. “We need that bridge. We really do.”

Nanticoke Fire Chief Mark Boncal said the city is contracted by Plymouth Township to provide fire, rescue and emergency medical services to the township’s West Nanticoke section.

Without the county-owned bridge, his department’s response time to West Nanticoke likely would increase by six to eight minutes on a “good day” with nice weather and light traffic, he said. Responders would have to use Route 29 to cross the river and reach West Nanticoke, he said.

“We all know time is essential in a time of emergency, and that’s how much time would be wasted if we had to go on that other bridge all the time,” Boncal said. “The county bridge is a critical public safety project and should be at the top of the ladder.”

Former longtime Plymouth Township Supervisor Gale Conrad, who now works as a consultant, said township residents rely on the county bridge for public safety. When the bridge has periodically closed for minor repairs or an inspection over the years, she heard from many residents “afraid it wasn’t going to be opened back up.”

“The county already deemed it to be in such a degraded condition, so why wait? It’s a top priority,” Conrad said.

Newport Township Manager Joseph Hillan said a new bridge also would open up direct access to approximately 3,000 acres for commercial development, whether or not the Nacero project becomes a reality. This development would benefit the county tax base and economy, he said.

“It’s about the future development of Newport Township. Look what happened in Hanover Township once they had that infrastructure. It blossomed,” Hillan said.

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