Latest news with #Olyphant
Yahoo
06-07-2025
- Business
- Yahoo
Two Lackawanna County towns grapple with flood zone designation
OLYPHANT — Standing in front of a pit on Lackawanna Avenue where he hopes to invest nearly $2 million into storefronts and apartments, developer John Wilkens lamented the impact of a longtime flood zone designation covering much of downtown Olyphant and hindering development. 'This issue stops any new development dead in its tracks,' he said. Wilkens, a New Jersey-based developer working with local developer Adam Guiffrida on multiple projects in Olyphant, acquired the former Sullum's Bridals at 129-131 Lackawanna Ave. in 2023 for $210,000 with plans to tear down the dilapidated building and construct a new three-story, mixed-use property in its place consisting of two first-floor retail shops and 12 apartments on the second and third floors. However, despite the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers building Olyphant a $23.5 million levee system along the Lackawanna River on the town's northern end less than 20 years ago, the levee is not recognized by the Federal Emergency Management Agency. Without accreditation from FEMA, the levee effectively didn't exist when the agency calculated Olyphant's risk of a 100-year flood and designated its downtown as a 'Special Flood Hazard Area,' or SFHA, meaning the agency considers downtown Olyphant to have a 1% chance of flooding in any given year. The Lackawanna River flows near the lot of the former Atlantic Veal and Lamb slaughterhouse in Olyphant Tuesday, June 17, 2025. (SEAN MCKEAG / STAFF PHOTOGRAPHER) That designation means home and business owners with structures in the high-risk areas who hold mortgages from federally regulated or insured lenders are required to buy flood insurance and adhere to floodplain management regulations, according to FEMA. For Wilkens, those regulations quintuple the cost to build a foundation for his building. 'When you go from budgeting about $150,000 for a foundation, and it takes you nine months to a year to get two or three bids in for what would be needed to satisfy all requirements, and it comes in at $760,000 as the best price, that, right there, just doesn't make it possible,' he said. A fence keeps pedestrians from accessing the property at W. Lackawanna Ave. in Olyphant Tuesday, June 17, 2025. (SEAN MCKEAG / STAFF PHOTOGRAPHER) With a background in the insurance industry, Wilkens said his rates could range from about $6,000 on a preferred rate to about $14,500 annually. If Olyphant were reduced to a moderate flood hazard area, the figure would fall to about $3,000, he said. Olyphant was trying to seek a FEMA grant aimed at working with local governments to reduce hazard risks, but in April, President Donald Trump's administration, under Department of Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem, canceled the program, calling it 'wasteful' and 'politicized.' Similarly, several miles to the north in Mayfield, Mayor Al Chelik was unsure about the status of the borough's $2.34 million in federal funding to bolster its nearly 60-year-old levee as a step toward removing its downtown from the same high-risk flood zone designation. Although the $2.34 million would address the levee itself by effectively raising it several feet, the borough would still potentially need millions of dollars more to address the infrastructure at two of its bridges crossing the Lackawanna River. 'It's devastating' The Army Corps of Engineers finished a levee outlining Olyphant's northernmost section in 2006 for $23.5 million, but shortly after it was built, FEMA calculated the levee could not handle the Lackawanna River during a major flood event. In the wake of Hurricane Katrina's devastation in August 2005, FEMA conducted a nationwide push to evaluate flood vulnerability and determined that a flood would likely bring 20% more water through Olyphant than previously estimated, which the agency determined Olyphant's then-newly built levee couldn't handle. The decision came shortly after the corps had turned over the levee to Olyphant. A FEMA flood zone encompasses much of downtown Olyphant. (SCREENSHOT VIA FEMA'S NATIONAL FLOOD HAZARD LAYER VIEWER) Plans for the mile-long levee in the borough began in the mid-1980s after a Lackawanna River flood swept through the northernmost end of the town. The Army Corps of Engineers agreed to build the levee in 1998, and construction began in 2002. Olyphant contributed about $3 million toward the project. The Lackawanna River flows between Blakely, left, and Olyphant boroughs Tuesday, June 17, 2025. (SEAN MCKEAG / STAFF PHOTOGRAPHER) The borough had hoped for funding through FEMA's Building Resilient Infrastructure and Communities program, but that was killed, council President Jimmy Baldan said. 'That was one avenue, and now we stand at trying to find new ways to help the situation,' he said. 'We were doing the application process and follow-ups, and then it just stopped.' In a May 30 email provided by Wilkens from the Pennsylvania Emergency Management Agency as he sought remedies from the flood zone, a state official said the BRIC program was concluded, and the borough did not complete a Flood Mitigation Assistance Grant Program application due to National Flood Insurance Program, or NFIP, requirements in the grant program. The FMA is a competitive program that provides funding to state, territory and local governments and federally recognized Tribal Nations for projects that reduce or eliminate the risk of repetitive flood damage to buildings insured by the NFIP, according to FEMA. The NFIP is a FEMA-managed program that provides flood insurance to property owners, renters and businesses, as well as working with communities that are required to adopt and enforce floodplain management regulations that help mitigate flooding effects, according to FEMA. Olyphant is now in the process of sending a letter to the Army Corps of Engineers to find out what it needs to do to get its levee accredited, Baldan said. 'If we have any possible avenue to be able to get that accredited, what that will do for our residents that live down by the river their whole lives, is that they would be taken out of that floodplain,' he said. 'We are working toward finding a way to take that worry away.' Wilkens commended Olyphant officials for their work with FEMA and PEMA to look for funding opportunities to get the levee accredited. 'So, FEMA, we're at a time frame where we're not too optimistic that they're going to be the ones that can help us out,' Wilkens said. 'We're really hopeful that we can just gain as much attention as possible to the situation and get both local and state representation — our elected officials — involved to become aware of what the residents and business owners are facing.' An aerial view shows the former Sullum's Bridals property as empty lot on W. Lackawanna Ave. in Olyphant Tuesday, June 17, 2025. (SEAN MCKEAG / STAFF PHOTOGRAPHER) With 'the right attention,' Wilkens believes Olyphant could be lifted out of the flood zone. 'Here we are, 20 years later, and we're hoping to bring some attention to this issue,' he said. 'Get the right politicians involved, or whoever can step up and shed some light on it.' He was aware of the levee when he acquired the property, but knowing about the nearly $24 million investment into the levee, Wilkens said he was optimistic that it was on the radar of officials, or that something was already in the works. A fence keeps pedestrians from accessing the property at W. Lackawanna Ave. in Olyphant Tuesday, June 17, 2025. (SEAN MCKEAG / STAFF PHOTOGRAPHER) If it weren't for the increased costs of building in the flood zone, Wilkens said his building, a projected $1.7 million investment, would be 'pretty much completed.' 'It's devastating,' he said. 'Once you're told, 'Well, here's the roadblock that we're running into all of a sudden,' it takes your breath away.' 'A mess' In Mayfield, Chelik is waiting to hear the status of a $2.34 million federal grant secured by former U.S. Rep. Matt Cartwright to improve their levee, which was built in 1968. The grant required a 10% match, and Mayfield secured about $229,000 from another grant to cover that cost. 'We don't know the status of that grant now with the Trump administration,' he said. The levee runs parallel to Penn Avenue along the Lackawanna River, Powderly Creek and Hosey Creek. Like Olyphant, Mayfield's levee is not accredited. The Lackawanna River flows through Mayfield Wednesday, June 18, 2025. (SEAN MCKEAG / STAFF PHOTOGRAPHER) The mayor hopes levee improvements could remove his borough's downtown from its flood zone designation that went into effect in August 2020. 'We have not had a flood in Mayfield since the levee was built,' Chelik said. 'We've never come really close, but they are going on this 100-year flood analysis, and they said our levee doesn't meet that standard.' There are 264 residences within Mayfield's flood zone that are required to pay for flood insurance with their mortgages, with rates ranging from around $500 to a couple thousand dollars a year, Chelik said. A FEMA flood zone spans a stretch of Mayfield along the Lackawanna River. (SCREENSHOT VIA FEMA'S NATIONAL FLOOD HAZARD LAYER VIEWER) The grant is supposed to cover the cost of raising the height of their levee several feet by adding metal walls, he said. The borough can't use additional dirt or gravel to build up the levee because they can't build laterally, so instead they would use the metal walls, he said. A guage to measure the water level of the Lackawanna River is placed near the Chestnut St. Bridge in Mayfield Wednesday, June 18, 2025. (SEAN MCKEAG / STAFF PHOTOGRAPHER) However, even with those upgrades, based on the borough's calculations with a study funded through a $51,948 grant, simply improving the levee still won't save residents from having to pay flood insurance due to the Chestnut and Poplar street bridges, Chelik said. In 2005, the state Department of Environmental Protection spent $463,500 to improve the system at Hosey Creek and to put in a flood wall system at the Chestnut Street bridge, including installing a trench across the road to mount the walls in the event of a flood and an accompanying shed to store them when not in use. If the town raises the height of the levee, it would need new flood walls with a new trench, he said. 'If that trench cost, say it was $350,000 in 2005, you could quadruple that now just for us to put a new trench in with new panels,' Chelik said. * A vehicle drives across the Chestnut St. bridge, over the Lackawanna River, in Mayfield Wednesday, June 18, 2025. (SEAN MCKEAG / STAFF PHOTOGRAPHER) * A vehicle drives across the Chestnut St. bridge, over the Lackawanna River, in Mayfield Wednesday, June 18, 2025. (SEAN MCKEAG / STAFF PHOTOGRAPHER) Show Caption 1 of 2 A vehicle drives across the Chestnut St. bridge, over the Lackawanna River, in Mayfield Wednesday, June 18, 2025. (SEAN MCKEAG / STAFF PHOTOGRAPHER) Expand Less than half a mile downstream on the Lackawanna River, the Poplar Street bridge 'presents an entirely different scenario,' he said. The borough has concrete walls going north and south of the bridge extending for about a block, he said. 'What do we do with those? Do we have to raise those? How are we going to raise those?' Chelik said. 'We're in a mess.' Chelik hopes to use the $2.34 million in federal funds to address the levee and then seek additional money for the bridges. 'We haven't heard from PEMA in awhile, so we're getting a little nervous,' he said. By removing the flood zone designation, Chelik believes it could spur new investment into Mayfield, which has two large lots zoned for commercial use at Penn Avenue and Poplar Street. He envisioned a commercial use or apartments. 'Nobody is going to touch those two lots,' he said. 'It's prohibitive for anyone to try to do anything in downtown Mayfield.'
Yahoo
29-04-2025
- Yahoo
Man charged after power line fire at pot growing operation
DURYEA, LUZERNE COUNTY (WBRE/WYOU) — Drug charges were filed Monday against a Massachusetts man after a burning power line in Duryea led police to a marijuana grow operation back in August of 2024, according to court records. Police say after investigating arching wires that caused a fire, along with a smell of natural gas, they discovered an alleged marijuana grow operation inside a home in the 200 block of Marcy Street. The fire department, along with the police department, made forced entry into the home to ensure the safety of anyone potentially living in the residence after a smell of natural gas near the gas meter, according to the affidavit. Lackawanna DA confirms 3 teens in custody after Olyphant shooting Police say that when inside the home, they found over 600 marijuana plants growing. Police, along with members of the Pennsylvania Office of Attorney General, later returned with a search warrant and said they found 'what appeared to be an extensive marijuana grow operation'. Police say they found heaters, fans, Co2 tanks, and air filtration systems. A PPL representative who responded to the scene said the amount of power being drawn by items in the home is what caused the line to catch fire, according to court records. According to police, by using evidence found in the home, they identified Minchao Yu, 43, with a last known address of Allston, Massachusetts, as the homeowner and used Yu's bank records to trace various building materials of the grow operation to Yu. Yu has not been arrested and is facing charges of manufacturing, possessing with intent to deliver a controlled substance, possession of drug paraphernalia, and risking a catastrophe. Copyright 2025 Nexstar Media, Inc. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.
Yahoo
14-04-2025
- Yahoo
Wanted Olyphant man arrested on drug charges
An Olyphant man — wanted by state parole authorities for criminal attempt to commit aggravated assault stemming from a shooting — was arrested Friday in the borough. When members of the U.S. Marshals Service, Pennsylvania State Parole, Olyphant Police Department and Lackawanna County Detectives Drug Unit responded to the 600 block of Susquehanna Avenue around 7:30 a.m. to serve an arrest warrant on Devante Herbert Graham — who police said is a Crips street gang member — they were told Graham was upstairs. Investigators found him in a bedroom and took him into custody, according to a criminal complaint. Graham (Courtesy Lackawanna County Central Processing) When Graham asked investigators for pants to put on, they found a plastic bag containing approximately 16.5 grams of cocaine in a pair of sweatpants, police said. During a search of the apartment, investigators also found a bag containing a digital scale with cocaine residue, a debit card belonging to Graham, a blue bandana and a cellphone, officers said. Graham told investigators the phone under the bed belonged to him and later admitted knowing he was wanted by state parole but never turned himself in, police said. Investigators discovered approximately 10 grams of marijuana in medical marijuana bags with another person's name on them, marijuana wrapping papers, a marijuana grinder and a bottle containing six Oxycontin pills in the bedroom where Graham was staying, according to the criminal complaint. Police charged Graham, 30, with possession with intent to deliver, flight to avoid apprehension, possession of a controlled substance and possession of drug paraphernalia. As of Monday, Graham remained in Lackawanna County Prison in lieu of $250,000 bail. A preliminary hearing is scheduled for April 24 at 9:45 a.m.
Yahoo
22-03-2025
- Yahoo
Olyphant man accused of shooting his ex-girlfriend in Scranton
An Olyphant man was arrested Friday after police say he shot his ex-girlfriend on March 9, following a continuing escalation of threats due to a custody matter, Scranton police said in a release. Claude Harris, 27, of 615 Susquehanna Ave., was charged with multiple counts of felony aggravated assault, simple assault and conspiracy. The victim was shot as she stood in the midst of a group of people in the 1800 block of Lafayette Court. The wound was not fatal, police said. At the time of the arrest, Harris was on Pennsylvania State Parole after a 2021 arrest and conviction of felony possession with intent to deliver a controlled substance and possession of a firearm, police said. Harris was taken into custody and arraigned at the Lackawanna County Justice Center. He remains at the Lackawanna County Prison.
Yahoo
26-02-2025
- Yahoo
Police: Olyphant woman assaults officers, hospital staff
OLYPHANT — An Olyphant woman assaulted police officers and hospital staff as they were trying to assist her into a hospital bed, according to a criminal complaint. Michelle Rizzi, 41, of 420 Lackawanna Ave., is accused of breaking into a neighbor's apartment, tipping over a refrigerator and throwing around dishes and other items before being transported to Lehigh Valley Hospital, Dickson City, for a bump on her head. She faces felony charges of aggravated assault and criminal trespass. According to the criminal complaint: At about 3:30 p.m. on Feb. 24, police responded to the apartment building on a report of a woman who broke into a neighbor's apartment. When officers arrived, they found Rizzi shouting and being disorderly in the hallway outside the apartments. Officers spoke with Jason Altemose who said Rizzi broke into his apartment because she believed he stole a package from her several days earlier. Officers noted a tipped refrigerator, broken plates and a broken door in Altemose's apartment. Altemose said the two had been friends until the argument over the package. Police put Rizzi in handcuffs and attempted to escort her from the building, but she resisted by twisting her body and raising her legs. When an officer asked if she had taken any medications that might be causing her behavior, she said, 'You did not vote for Trump,' and followed with an expletive. While Rizzi was at the Dickson City police station, officers noted she had a bump on her head and transported her to the Lehigh Valley Hospital, where she continued screaming obscenities. Rizzi was placed in a hospital bed without restraints because she appeared to have calmed down. About 30 minutes later, she got up and tried to leave the room. She was then placed in handcuffs and restrained to the hospital bed. While restrained, she used her legs to kick and scratch police officer Clayton Devoe, causing his hand to bleed. She also assaulted hospital staff, according to the criminal complaint. She is remains at Lackawanna County Prison in lieu of $25,000. A preliminary hearing is scheduled for 10:45 a.m. on March 10 before District Judge Paul Ware.
