Planning Commission continues Harrisburg Global Academy conditional-use request after environmental and traffic questions

The Lancaster County Planning Commission voted to continue the conditional-use application for Harrisburg Global Academy to the May 20 meeting after staff said technical-review comments had not been resolved and neighbors raised concerns about site conditions and traffic.

Justin Matthews, COO of Alliance Education Services, the applicant, described the proposal as an 850-seat K-8 charter school and said the project would be "at 0 cost to the taxpayer." He said the school team has raised private funds, completed environmental testing and had an approved voluntary cleanup plan; Matthews told the commission the team was scheduled to present a revenue-bond request the next morning. "We are taking an 8 50 membership K public charter school at 0 cost to the taxpayer," Matthews said.

Planning staff advised commissioners that the application had not completed the Technical Review Committee (TRC) process and therefore staff could not recommend approval at that time. Staff described unresolved TRC comments on buffers, vehicular connections and other site-review matters and advised the commission that the applicant could either have the item denied or postponed to allow time to resolve TRC comments.

Neighbors raised environmental and traffic concerns during public comment. Thomas Wes Crump, who lives directly across Harrisburg Road from the site, urged additional testing and inspection because of alleged historic landfill contents and traffic backups on Harrisburg Road. "That landfill we fought for years, and they put stuff in that landfill that you... Did you find coal ash?" he said, asking the commission to ensure further review.

Applicant representatives said they had prepared geotechnical reports, a phase I environmental site assessment and a voluntary cleanup plan approved by state regulators; civil engineer George Gennaro told commissioners the team would install methane monitoring wells and would not disturb the landfill cap. The civil representative and the applicant agreed to meet with planning staff and the neighborhood HOA to resolve TRC concerns within a week. Matthews said the team would "have that within like 5 days" when referring to methane-well results.

Commission debate focused on unresolved TRC comments and outstanding meetings with the homeowner association. Commissioner comments included that without TRC clearance staff could not recommend approval. The commission adopted a motion to continue the application to the May 20 meeting so the applicant could address TRC review items and coordinate with neighbors; the motion to continue passed on a 5-1 vote.

The motion to continue was made and seconded on the record and Commissioners directed staff to report back to the commission when TRC comments were resolved and when the applicant had met with neighbors and submitted revised materials.