Shenandoah submits list of properties to county demolition program ; Borough Council Recap

SHENANDOAH – The Shenandoah Borough Council held its rescheduled February meeting on Monday night, February 27th. On the agenda was a list of properties to be submitted to the Schuylkill County Demolition Program.

On the list was a set of properties at the corner of West Coal and North Race Streets in the borough’s Glover’s Hill section, which have been the subject of discussion at borough council meetings regularly since 2014, and the center of an ongoing legal battle. Neighbors are concerned for their health and safety, due to the property’s deteriorating condition and a broken sewer line on the premises.

One condition of the county Demolition Program is that the municipality must own the property, but an exception exists if the property’s demolition is court-ordered, which may soon be the case with the Race Street properties, pending an appeal in Commonwealth Court.

Also included on the list were

• 17 North Union Street (destroyed by fire in 2016)
• 231 West Coal Street 
• 129 East Lloyd Street (damaged by fire in 2014)
• 9-11 North Main Street (destroyed by fire in 2016)

Borough Council unanimously approved the resolution to submit the properties to the demolition program.

​”That’s what we’re hoping, we get the court order, and that would be, believe me, the first one. It’s been too long.” Council Vice-President Leo Pietkiewicz stated, following the vote.

Absent from the meeting was Councilman Paul Holland, Council President Don Segal, and Mayor Andrew Szczyglak.

In other business, borough council

• Approved the use of Bicentennial Park by the Shenandoah Volunteer Group for their annual Easter Egg Hunt, to be held on Saturday, April 15th at 1:00pm.
• Approved the use of Borough Hall by the Shenandoah Youth Soccer Association for soccer sign-ups.
• Approved a Lease/Purchase Agreement for a 2017 Ford F250 for the Shenandoah Sewer Department.

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Kaylee Lindenmuth

Kaylee Lindenmuth is a Shenandoah native with a passion for journalism and the community she calls home.

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