A Louis DeNaples-affiliated company wants Throop to allow warehouses across hundreds of acres of environmental conservation land, despite the borough already allowing the developments elsewhere in the town.\n<\/p>\n
The zoning change sought by Theta Land Corp. would make warehouse and distribution facilities permitted across 700-plus acres in one of Throop\u2019s most restrictive zoning districts along the Casey Highway. Throop is under no obligation to approve Theta Land Corp.\u2019s request because warehouses are allowed in other zones, Zoning and Code Enforcement Officer Andy Hegedus said Monday.<\/p>\n
\u201cThere\u2019s nothing that has been approved, nothing\u2019s been submitted, and tomorrow\u2019s meeting is for factual information as to what\u2019s the benefit,\u201d Hegedus said, explaining council will decide. \u201cThey\u2019ve got seven people they have to convince that this is the right thing to do for that land.\u201d<\/p>\n
Throop Borough Council will hold a public hearing at 5:30 p.m. Tuesday followed by a special meeting at 6 to\u00a0consider the zoning amendment. The hearing and meeting will be at the Throop Community Civic Center, 500 Sanderson St., according to public notices published Aug. 27 and Sept. 3 in The Times-Tribune.\n<\/p>\n
Hegedus expects Theta Land Corp. to make a presentation Tuesday about why council should allow warehouses on the land, and residents will have the opportunity to testify. While council scheduled a special meeting to consider voting on the legislation, the borough could table it and continue the hearing, he said.<\/p>\n
Although the principal permitted use designation requested by Theta would normally bypass the public hearing requirement used locally to regulate warehouses and other industrial uses, Throop\u2019s zoning ordinance stipulates that any building 30,000 square feet or larger requires conditional use approval from council.\n<\/p>\n
Throop\u2019s 2021 zoning ordinance<\/a> principally permits warehouse and distribution facilities in its general commercial, light industrial and heavy industrial zoning districts, which encompasses nearly 1,400 acres spanning from Underwood Road to the Casey Highway, including the Keystone Sanitary Landfill, according to the ordinance and zoning map<\/a>. With modern warehouses often in the 1-million-square-foot range, any proposal would most likely exceed 30,000 square feet, effectively making the developments conditional uses.<\/p>\n Neither the Lackawanna County Regional Planning Commission nor grassroots environmental group Friends of Lackawanna supports the zoning change. Friends of Lackawanna formed in 2014 to oppose the Keystone Sanitary Landfill and its expansion.<\/p>\n \u2018Path of least resistance\u2019<\/p>\n Representing Theta Land Corp., attorney Jeff Belardi addressed the Throop Planning Commission about the change June 2<\/a> and addressed both planning and council July 7<\/a>, according to meeting minutes. Attorney Christopher Caputo, on behalf of Atlanta, Georgia-based warehouse developer Core5, joined Belardi at both meetings. Core5 plans<\/a> to build two warehouses in Scott Twp. off Route 107 near Interstate 81 \u2014 one warehouse just over 1.2-million square feet and another just shy of 700,000 square feet.<\/p>\n Belardi told the borough that they have two contracts with Core5, though only one of the warehouses falls into conservation land, according to June 2 minutes. The other proposed warehouse would be in Throop and Olyphant, and fall into Throop\u2019s light industrial zone. The warehouses would use Marshwood Road for access.<\/p>\n Theta Land Corp. owns the entirety of Throop\u2019s 735 acres of environmental conservation land east of the Casey Highway opposite the Keystone Sanitary Landfill. Landfill co-owner Louis DeNaples most recently signed an easement agreement in August 2025 as the president of Theta, according to Lackawanna County Recorder of Deeds filings.<\/p>\n Companies managed by his nephew, Charles DeNaples, the son of landfill co-owner Dominick DeNaples, sold<\/a> hundreds of acres in Olyphant off Marshwood Road to a St. Louis-based developer who initially planned to build four warehouses but is now suing<\/a> the borough to build seven data centers in their place. Charles DeNaples also applied for and withdrew plans in Olyphant for seven data centers.<\/a><\/p>\n Dominick DeNaples also entered into memorandums of sale in April and June with a PPL Corp. joint venture to explore developing power plants<\/a> that could fuel data centers across more than 11 square miles in Lackawanna County\u2019s Upvalley and Archbald.<\/p>\n During the July 7 meeting, Belardi told Throop officials that making warehouses principal permitted uses in the conservation zone was \u201cthe easiest thing to do,\u201d rather than rezoning the land as an industrial use.<\/p>\n \u201cIt was the path of least resistance, being honest,\u201d he said, pointing to potential outrage if they rezone it for industrial uses that also allow landfills. \u201cEverybody\u2019d be up in arms and think that that\u2019s what was going to go over there.\u201d<\/p>\n Throop council voted in July<\/a> to amend its zoning ordinance to define and regulate data centers, carving out a 351-acre overlay in the conservation district to conditionally allow the developments, subject to restrictions. A group of residents is currently appealing<\/a> that zoning change. Other uses in the environmental conservation district include agriculture, cemeteries, cell towers, commercial greenhouses and nurseries, prisons, mining, forestry, public buildings, public utilities, public recreation facilities, self-storage facilities and solar farms.<\/p>\n \u201cThe path of least resistance was to say, \u2018Well, if you can allow a public utility in the (conservation) zone, there is nothing to stop PPL from putting an Invenergy type plant on that mountain,\u2019\u201d Belardi said, according to July 7 minutes. \u201cWe\u2019re saying put a warehouse like it\u2019s the least impactful use of the things that could go up there in our partition. If you\u2019ve seen that, you see that there is even a wholesale nursery complex that would be bigger than the footprint of this warehouse.\u201d<\/p>\n Belardi did not respond to a phone message at his law firm by 5 p.m. Monday.<\/p>\n \u2018The floodgates open\u2019<\/p>\n Mary Liz Donato, director of the Lackawanna County Planning Department, said her department was not in favor of the zoning change after reviewing Theta\u2019s submission. She called it an unusual request, explaining no other municipalities in Lackawanna County allow warehousing in conservation zones.<\/p>\n In its review, associate planner Bob Kenney questioned whether warehouses would conflict with Throop\u2019s preservation goals in its zoning ordinance, Donato said. According to the borough\u2019s zoning ordinance, one of its purposes is the \u201creservation of natural, scenic and historic values in the environment and preservation of forests, wetlands, aquifers and floodplains.\u201d<\/p>\n The county also noted there are vacant properties in Throop\u2019s light industrial zone where warehouses are permitted.<\/p>\n \u201cYour conservation zones are your open space, your agriculture, small-scale development on larger lots, things like that,\u201d she said. \u201cThe intent of those types of zones are to preserve as much land and forest cover or flood plains.\u201d<\/p>\n Pat Clark, a leader of Friends of Lackawanna, urged council to deny the proposal.<\/p>\n \u201cOnce environmentally zoned land becomes warehouse land, the next changes become much easier, and when that property sits alongside a mega-landfill surrounded by proposed data center development and major natural gas infrastructure, we need to be very careful and pay very close attention to what uses could hit next,\u201d Clark said. \u201cWe have seen what happens when towns give in \u2014 the floodgates open.\u201d<\/p>\n One of Northeast Pennsylvania\u2019s best features is its access to beautiful natural resources and forests, which is codified in environmental and protected zones, he said. With finished warehouses unoccupied in the county, allowing additional warehousing would be a double negative, Clark said.<\/p>\n \u201cIt doesn\u2019t use up the supply of the asset that we have, and it destroys much of another asset that we do have,\u201d he said. \u201cThis ownership group has never been one to ask for small things.\u201d<\/p>\n He criticized Belardi\u2019s characterization of taking the path of least resistance.<\/p>\n \u201cIf you\u2019re seeking to get land that is already zoned environmentally to be something else, the path of least resistance is the exact opposite path that anyone should ever be able to take for such a request,\u201d Clark said.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"A Louis DeNaples-affiliated company wants Throop to allow warehouses across hundreds of acres of environmental conservation land, despite…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":286036,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[15],"tags":[201,182,139,28,178,180,179,3104,181],"class_list":["post-286035","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-scranton","tag-lackawanna-county","tag-local-news","tag-news","tag-pennsylvania","tag-scranton","tag-scranton-headlines","tag-scranton-news","tag-throop","tag-top-stories-stt"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/286035","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=286035"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/286035\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/286036"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=286035"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=286035"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=286035"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}