By KRISTA GROMALSKI

BLOOMING GROVE TOWNSHIP - Approximately $32,000 in "Clean and Green" back taxes on the 615-acre site of a proposed corporate park on Well Road in Blooming Grove Township remain up for grabs. "That's a matter for the courts and county to determine," said Gary Boam, Executive Director of the Pike County Industrial Development Corporation (PIDCO), managing corporation for the project.

Boam is also executive director of the Pike County Industrial and Community Development Authority, the tax-exempt government agency now holding the acreage.

The back taxes became due on the property when PIDCO purchased the land for development from Alvin Schwartz of Valiant Enterprises who held the property as "Clean and Green."

PA "Clean and Green" status is a preferential tax assessment on properties, according to Peter Wulfhorst of the Penn State Cooperative Extension. "There are certain land and usage requirements to gain the status," he said. "It helps large landowners to reduce their tax assessment, and therefore reduce their taxes."

"We are exempt by nature," Boam said of the tax responsibility.

The proposed corporate park that will include 22 parcels of five to 14 acres each will not be held back by the tax issue, according to Boam. "We've already turned away more than 30 businesses that could have been in here," he said.

Boam could not name an expected completion date on the park. The project awaits final approval by Blooming Grove Township, PennDOT and the Department of Environmental Protection.