This story was produced by the Berks County bureau of Spotlight PA, an independent, nonpartisan newsroom. Sign up for Good Day, Berks, a daily dose of essential local stories at spotlightpa.org/newsletters/gooddayberks.
UPPER BERN — Local officials say they are working to ensure Berks County taxpayers aren’t on the hook for outstanding issues with a warehouse purchased by ICE.
The developer says it’s unclear whether it will be allowed to tackle road stabilization and stormwater-related issues now that the federal government owns the property. But Upper Bern Township officials have directed the company, Transwestern Development Company, to try to resolve the problems by May 15.
This is just one way community leaders in Berks and Schuylkill Counties are focused on mitigating the impacts of the Department of Homeland Security’s plans to turn sprawling vacant warehouses in their municipalities into detention and processing facilities.
Elected leaders in Schuylkill County recently acknowledged that the power to stop ICE’s pursuit resides with the governor, not them. They must focus on limiting the damage in the county should a 7,500-bed detention center in Tremont become a reality, Board of Commissioners Chair Larry Padora told residents at a town hall.
Christian Leinbach, chair of the Berks Board of Commissioners, told residents on March 10 that if the county or state cannot stop the 1,500-person processing center in Upper Bern from opening, there are two primary items he wants DHS to agree to in writing.
He wants the federal government to compensate the county and township financially for lost tax revenue and local resources (such as sewer capacity, water, and emergency services), and the county to be able to confirm “humane treatment” of people within the facility.
“What I believe is right, at this moment, is to do what I can to stop it from coming, but if it is coming, do everything I can to protect our community financially and make sure that the people are treated humanely,” Leinbach said.
Leinbach and the commissioners have met with DHS and Schuylkill County leaders twice to learn about the facility and how it would operate. Leinbach has not spoken publicly about the second meeting, but told residents he left the first with few questions answered.
In March, he said people he had spoken with in the governor’s office were not “real optimistic” about the facility being stopped, he said. But he learned more ideas about other ways to address it, such as writing to ask Pennsylvania’s U.S. senators to oppose the warehouse conversions.
In the past month, Upper Bern officials have met with Gov. Josh Shapiro, Berks County commissioners, and DHS and ICE representatives. Federal officials “provided few answers,” the Board of Supervisors said in a statement.
Warehouse deficiencies
On March 12, officials gave Transwestern Development Company — the developer of 3501 Mountain Road in Upper Bern Township — its 10th extension to address deficiencies with the property associated with the warehouse’s land development agreement.
This type of agreement protects a municipality and its residents from being stuck with unfinished or faulty infrastructure if a project goes bankrupt or the developer disappears.
Upper Bern Township also wants to make sure the municipality isn’t forced to pay for the outstanding repairs with the development agreement. Transwestern initially posted a roughly $6 million loan on the project, which Upper Bern can tap into if developers do not complete the work.
In a March 16 email, Solicitor Andrew Hoffman said the township is “working with the developer” to ensure three issues are resolved at the company’s expense. These include closing out the NPDES (stormwater) permit, locating the sanitary sewer line, and cleaning the Schoolhouse Road culvert.
“The Township granted an extension to the developer to allow for continued work on them,” Hoffman said.
Days before a March 13 deadline, representatives with Transwestern informed Upper Bern that except for three items, most of the outstanding problems had been addressed. On March 12, the township’s Board of Supervisors extended the developer’s deadline to resolve those deficiencies to May 15.
Transwestern’s NPDES permit, which was required by the Department of Environmental Protection for stormwater discharges related to construction activities, was terminated in November, but needs to be finalized by the township.
Other items, like locating a private sewer lateral and reseeding slopes that are part of the property’s stormwater management, which are part of the NPDES permit, will be difficult to address. Transwestern representatives say they no longer have access to the property, meaning they can’t replace dead trees, make other landscaping changes, or stabilize culverts and approaches under Schoolhouse Road.
“Due to the recent purchase of the property the developer no longer has access to the property,” Matthew Kinney wrote in a March 9 letter to Upper Bern Township. Kinney is a senior technical manager for Pennoni, an engineering consulting firm that represents Transwestern. “The referenced items are property maintenance that should be addressed with the current owner.”
How Transwestern might be able to resolve these problems without access to the property is unclear. The developer’s attorney and engineers did not respond to Spotlight PA’s questions about the latest deadline extension.
DHS and ICE also did not respond to questions.
Spotlight PA’s Hanna Holthaus contributed reporting.
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