Home Depot erodes
trust on issue of
federal approval

By KRISTA GROMALSKI

WESTFALL — As the Westfall Township Planning Board reconvened on July 24 to consider Home Depot’s (HD) revisions to its plan for a 115,000-square-foot store and 19,000-square-foot garden center behind the Best Western Inn at Hunt’s Landing, some confusion remained as to the project’s status.

Adding to the concerns of some residents near the proposed site, representatives of HD, at a July 12 planning board meeting, incorrectly announced receipt of a portion of federal approval that would accelerate the project’s progress.

“Home Depot made a false statement in public,” said Linda Klee, spokesperson for the Westfall HD opposition group Citizens to Protect Our Natural Resources.

Spokesperson for the HD Company, John Simley, said it seems to be a situation where someone misspoke. “If [we] don’t have a permit in hand, then we don’t have a permit.”

Approval of a National Erosion and Sedimentation (NES) Plan, in question on the Westfall HD plan, is necessary for “any construction activity that will disturb more than five acres of land during the life of the project,” according to Peter Kawash, Resource Conservationist for the Pike County Conservation District (PCCD), the agency delegated to provide a recommendation on such a plan.

Although HD submitted an administratively complete NES Plan to the PCCD in the early July, a recommendation may be two to three months off, Kawash said.

Simley said it is important for HD to file its applications “carefully, in order and completely.”

Issuance of a permit must come from the state’s Department of Environmental Protection (DEP), a task delegated down from the federal level, according to Kawash.

Included in the recommendation process are up to two reviews, a pre-denial and denial. If problems arise during either of the reviews, HD will have the opportunity to revise its plan.

With the opportunity for alterations, most plans don’t get to the denial phase, Kawash said.

Upon a PCCD decision, each NES Plan is published in The Pennsylvania Bulletin, “the Commonwealth’s official gazette for information and rulemaking.” A 30-day period for public comment related to the PCCD’s review is then open, Kawash said.