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Contamination was found in the third prospective site for the former county-owned facility.
The third prospective site for a new Valley Crest Nursing Home has fallen through, but the home’s owner says he’s confident that a new location will be found.
Fast-forwarding construction plans is important to Luzerne County commissioners because they want to generate revenue selling the county-owned land that houses the existing home.
Complete HealthCare Resources, which purchased the Valley Crest operation from the county nearly a year ago, was hoping to build a new home on seven acres of land on South River Street in Plains Township, adjacent to the Rite Aid.
But that plan has been scrapped because contamination was discovered throughout the site during the company’s inspection, company head Peter Licari said on Friday.
“Apparently it was a former coal site, and someone dumped some old transformers on the site. They rotted and leached PCBs (Polychlorinated Biphenyls) into the ground,” Licari said.
The U.S. government banned the production of PCBs in 1977 after concerns over health risks. Asbestos pipe was also found running through the site from an old mining operation, he said.
“There’s no public danger, but you can’t build a nursing home on it without a very expensive remediation process,” Licari said.
Licari said his company is scheduled to examine two other possible relocation sites in January.
“We’ll get one,” he said.
Two previous potential sites – the spot of the existing home and land off state Route 115 – didn’t work out because Complete HealthCare said they were too expensive.
To balance the 2008 budget, county commissioners are banking on $4.3 million from the sale of property that houses Valley Crest, which is primarily 40 acres of Plains Township land .
But Licari said the company must remain at the current Plains site for at least two years because construction is expected to take 18 months.
The company has a lease to remain at the county-owned property for another year at a fee of $20. Complete HealthCare may also exercise an option to extend the lease for up to three more years, for $60,000 per year, according to its county agreement.
Commissioner Todd Vonderheid said Friday that he’s confident Complete HealthCare will work hard to find a site because the existing building is inefficient.
“They have their own incentive to get out,” he said. “We want to prudently dispose of the site and at the same time not unfairly displace the residents and the business.”
Vonderheid said the county will design “guiding principles” on possible uses for the county-owned land and eventually hire a professional real estate advisor to help the county find a buyer interested in working within those uses.
For example, Vonderheid said he “wouldn’t be as excited” if the property was used for more “big box retail.”
The county will also seek input from Plains Township officials on possible uses because the land is zoned agriculture and would require some sort of variance, he said.