DICKSON CITY — The borough shut down and cited a quarrying operation on the west side of Bell Mountain last month for working without approval from the town.
Zoning Officer James Damski issued a cease-and-desist letter in late June to Mountainview DC Realty LLC, followed by a notice of violation in July over work on land above Business Route 6 near the former Kmart. Mountainview’s property on Bell Mountain has been proposed for a natural gas power plant, a data center and now potentially a warehouse. Borough businessman Butch Kriger operates the firm.
“You have been performing work on this site without Zoning or Planning approvals,” Damski wrote in the June letter. “You are hereby ordered to immediately CEASE AND DESIST all work until proper permits have been issued.”
The site of Mountainview DC Realty LLC’s quarrying operations on Bell Mountain above Business Route 6 in Dickson City on Tuesday, July 28, 2026. Dickson City sent the property a cease-and-desist letter last month for running the operation without borough approval. (FRANK WILKES LESNEFSKY / STAFF PHOTO)
The property is separate from the quarry to the east along Cold Spring Road. Kriger Construction Inc., whose president is Kriger’s nephew Jim Marzolino, operates that quarry.
Mountainview DC Realty owns about 235 acres of Bell Mountain. The land surrounds the existing plaza between the 900 and 1100 blocks of Business Route 6, extending up the mountain and bordering the residential development to its west. Companies tied to Kriger Construction propose three natural gas power plants and four data centers across Bell Mountain, including a 100-megawatt power plant and 147,000-square-foot footprint data center on Mountainview’s land. Proceedings on the power plants were recently postponed as the developer conducts an environmental assessment, and the Dickson City Zoning Hearing Board twice denied appeals for the data centers, though the board’s decision is now being challenged in court.
A site plan marked with parcel sizes appeared on an easel during a zoning hearing in the Dickson City Borough Building to consider special exceptions for three natural gas power plants on Wednesday, June 10, 2026. (FRANK WILKES LESNEFSKY / STAFF PHOTO)
A marked-up zoning map showing the locations of data centers during a zoning hearing Wednesday, April 29, 2026, at the Dickson City Borough Building. (FRANK WILKES LESNEFSKY / STAFF PHOTO)
Show Caption
1 of 2
A site plan marked with parcel sizes appeared on an easel during a zoning hearing in the Dickson City Borough Building to consider special exceptions for three natural gas power plants on Wednesday, June 10, 2026. (FRANK WILKES LESNEFSKY / STAFF PHOTO)
In 2021, Butch Kriger proposed building about 300 townhouses on that land, though they never materialized.
Attempts to reach Kriger were unsuccessful Tuesday.
Kriger has now indicated to the borough he wants to build a warehouse, which is permitted in Dickson City’s highway commercial zoning district, borough Manager Cesare Forconi said. The commercial designation applies to the lower portion of the mountain closer to existing developments, with the majority of Bell Mountain zoned for a more restrictive residential/open space designation.
“He indicated that it’s not a data center — it’s a warehouse,” Forconi said. “We made it clear that it has to be a warehouse.”
Dickson City’s zoning does not allow data centers on Bell Mountain.
Dickson City initially sent Mountainview a notice of violation for bulk earthwork without zoning permits Oct. 20, 2023. The violation letter describes earthwork on Bell Mountain without first applying for a zoning permit.
Damski then sent Mountainview two letters June 25 warning it was in violation of the borough’s zoning ordinance over earth-extraction industrial activities and that no land development permit was issued by the borough.
A previous land development plan for a warehouse on the site was denied by the Dickson City Planning Commission, Damski wrote. Any land development greater than an acre requires approval from the borough, according to the letter.
Four days later on June 29, Damski sent the cease-and-desist letter.
The most recent violation notice came July 6, when Damski cited Mountainview for conducting earthwork on Bell Mountain without first applying for a zoning permit or receiving land-use approval from Dickson City’s planning commission.
Dickson City had received a tip about the property in June, prompting the borough to send an engineer to the site, who confirmed the work exceeded more than an acre, thus requiring zoning approval, Forconi said.
Although Mountainview is removing material and crushing stone, it isn’t technically a quarry because it’s preparing the land for things like retention ponds, he said.
Mountainview did receive a stormwater permit from the Lackawanna County Conservation District, but it needs a stormwater permit in conjunction with land development approval from Dickson City, Forconi said.
“(Butch Kriger) was under the assumption that he had some approvals, which he didn’t have,” Forconi said. “Once he was made aware of those things, we agreed that he would stop doing the work up there, and that he would make the proper submissions to get the process … moving forward.”
The plan will have to include information like the footprint of the warehouse, impervious coverage, utilities, lighting, slopes and topography, Forconi said.
Forconi, Damski and Planning Commission Chairman Robert Hall, who is also the council vice president, confirmed they had not yet received anything as of Tuesday.