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NANTICOKE — The Luzerne County Community College Board of Trustees Thursday lent its support to a private developer’s plan to build student housing off campus.
Details of the project proposed by Building Solutions LLC of Selinsgrove were not available. The company has built housing at West Chester and Shippensburg universities, according to its website.
The board had previously held off on giving its approval out of concern for potential liability to the school, but LCCC President Thomas Leary said those issues have been addressed in a memorandum of understanding.
The board issued a letter of support noting its initiatives such as the Mary Gill Carrozza RN Health Sciences Center and the Joseph A. Paglianite Culinary Institute have supported economic development benefiting Nanticoke and the school’s students.
“In the spirit of this growth and development we enthusiastically support the proposed private sector student housing development adjacent to Kosciuszko Street near the entrance of the main campus. The potential development of housing demonstrates the collaboration between the city of Nanticoke and Luzerne County Community College which results in positive growth and economic development,” the letter read.
The board also approved spending an additional $35,800 to do a topographical study of the campus in conjunction with a facilities master plan underway by MKSD Architects of Allentown. The study would have long term benefits to the school for any future development. In February the board agreed to hire the firm at a cost of $118,500.
On its website, MKSD said it was selected over more than 20 other architectural firms “to perform space planning services to plan renovations to accommodate new educational programming to two existing buildings on the 167-acre campus.”