Delaware Plaza Clinic Wins Approval
The Pike County Dispatch
By Wayne Witkowski
DINGMANS FERRY -- Southern Pike County residents will have quicker, direct access for their basic medical needs sometime this year.
The Delaware Township Board of Supervisors, after a half-hour public hearing during their regular meeting last week, unanimously approved a conditional use for a medical clinic to open at Delaware Plaza, anchored by Weis Market, on Route 739. The approval allows Route 739 LLC to convert contiguous, empty storefronts at the plaza into a medical facility that will provide services such as general urgent care, blood testing and imaging that includes X-rays, CAT scans and sonograms.
Some urgent care centers in the region provide help for broken bones. The influx of patients dramatically increased at the neighboring Middle Smithfield Township Urgent Care in Monroe County during the COVID-19 outbreak where it provided testing and results for many visitors before mass produced test kits were made available to the public.
Milford attorney John Stieh, who represented Route 739 LLP's developer of the plaza opened two years ago, said Northwell Health, based in Long Island, N.Y., would be the provider. Stieh was unable to give an official name for what he called a "medical clinic" that likely will include the Northwell logo.
"We looked at the project for several years and felt it was a viable one for there," said Stieh during the hearing.
Stieh clarified that it "is not going to be a major medical facility of an extreme nature, like an emergency room of a hospital."
"We hope to have it open in 2023, in the foreseeable future," said Stieh when asked after the meeting. "There's a lot to do with some of the equipment they're bringing in."
Township Solicitor Tom Farley said in a previous meeting that some conditions might be stipulated determine an approval, but no conditions were attached to this approval by him or township supervisors.
Farley was upbeat about the approval process leading up to the public hearing, saying that a facility like that has been needed by the community.
The urgent care center would provide what Stieh called "ancillary use" to support and relieve the strain on ambulance service or admission to Wayne Memorial and other hospitals in the region for basic medical needs.
In conducting the meeting, Farley said that the township Planning Board "recommended" the proposal and that roads and infrastructure, including parking, are already in place from the original plan for the plaza that was approved five years ago.
Stieh presented project engineer Joseph Hudak of Kiley Associates LLC for testimony and Hudak affirmed, when asked, that the proposal is in compliance with the township comprehensive plan, is suitable for the property and is "sorely needed for this area." Hudak said no variances or waivers are needed and that it would not impact on local road traffic or safety for motorists. He said suitable parking already is in place.
During a public questioning segment at the hearing, resident Liz Forrest asked if the facility would operate 24 hours a day and Stieh said he "can't answer" that. She asked if a traffic study was done and Stieh said not by the developer but that one was conducted by the Pennsylvania Department or Transportation.
Stieh said, when asked, that ambulances will not be dropping off patients for care there but that it is a "walk-in" facility for the public.
Resident Dennis Lee asked, in a hypothetical situation, if someone at the plaza had a heart attack and went to the urgent care facility in need of immediate help, would medical care be administered.
"I can't answer that," said Stieh, but he said an ambulance likely would be dispatched to the facility for care and transport to a hospital.
The facility is expected to have an automated external defibrillator (AED) to provide temporary help until the ambulance would arrive.
Also at the meeting, supervisors approved advertising and public comment on the Official Sewage Facilities Plan for Delaware Township regarding the acquisition of Delaware Sewer Company for Wild Acres private community subdivision by Pennsylvania-American Water Company.
They also approved the Pennsylvania-American Water Letter of Water and Sewer Serviceability for Marcel Lake Estates private community. With the private community lifting its building moratorium, supervisors need proof of water and sewerage service for those properties in order to issue building permits. "You tell us you can hook up and give water and we'll give you your building permits," said Farley.
Also approved was bidding out the Akenac Park culvert replacement project on PennBid by the township engineer in compliance with the Monroe Loan Share Account statewide grant contract.
Also for Akenac Park, supervisors approved purchasing 170 yards of certified playground mulch at a cost of $6,120 from D&S Hauling, 22 tons of white beach sand at a cost of $1,254 from D&S Hauling and a steel coal ash receptacle for $545.00. Also approved was replacing an 8-burner event grill for $499.00. They said the existing one was too rusted to be able to be put up for sale.
Supervisors approved amending a previously approved municipal hall use request for Pocono Mountain Lake Estates sections 5,6 & 7 from May 27 to June 3 from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. for a PMLE board meeting.
In the Announcements section ending the meeting, Board of Supervisors Chairman John Henderson said the township is continue to accept letters of interest for a vacancy on the Zoning Hearing Board.
Residents are encouraged to take the Imagine Pike County 2035 Comprehensive Plan Community Survey. Visit Pikepa.org. Community input will help determine priorities for the county as part of its comprehensive plan over the next 10 years. Feedback will help identify how the county will plan roads, utilities, housing, economic development, community facilities and natural resources.
During the workshop prior to the regular meting, Henderson said that the supervisors recently attended a two-hour presentation by the Lenapes, a Native American tribe indigenous to the area. He said the Leanpes are seeking a treaty with the township to recognize that their tribe has been a predecessor to the people occupying the area today.
Henderson said the tribe numbers about 600 people left behind from a larger group of the tribe that resettled in Oklahoma.
"They're opposed to the park," said Henderson, referring to the National Park System changing the classification of the Delaware Water Gap National Recreation Area to a national park. "They're all environmentalists from day 1. They want to help the township establish a treaty recognizing their indigenous people. This can (also) help us fight turning the recreation area to a national park."
"They look for partners for support because the state of Pennsylvania has not recognized them," added Supervisor Joseph Dunne.
The treaty is one page and Henderson said the township will continue gathering information toward its decision.
During the work session, Dingmans Ferry Theatre Director Dennis Lee said he'd like easier access to some theatre items kept in the storage building at Akenac Park. Lee suggested a wall separating his items from the township's with a doorway for easier access to bring them to the theatre cabin. "You provide the material, we'll do the labor," said Lee. Roadmaster Rick Bailo said he has "concerns of who is going to do it" from Lee's end of it and perhaps that it might be better for township workers to handle it. Bailo suggested a separate room within the storage area.
Bailo also talked about the winter maintenance agreement of roads with PennDOT, renewed yearly. He said negotiations continue, with a possible solution by the next meeting. PennDOT wants to relinquish any winter weather treatment of Silver Lake Road, which it handles from the Doolan Road intersection down to the Route 739 connect, and Wilson Hil Road, which it treats from Mary Stewart Road down to Route 209.
Bailo said that he does not want the township to take over care of the entire stretch of Wilson Hill Road until PennDOT performs its repair work on the lower end that is scheduled from 2024 to 2025.