SCOTT TWP. — For 25 years, Herb Grayek has enjoyed scenic views and open space on his family’s property.
“I like the peace and quiet,” he said last week amid a field of green grass with groves of trees on both sides.
But a low rumble and clanging in the distance portend the project Grayek says threatens to disturb his serene surroundings.
Core5 at North Scranton is moving ahead with plans to build several large warehouses in the township — 2,000 feet from Grayek’s 60-acre property off Koehler Hill Road. It’s a project he and other residents are concerned about, but township officials say is economically beneficial.
The Atlanta, Georgia-based developer is building two 50-foot-high warehouses — one 1.2 million square feet and a second nearly 700,000 square feet — on about 306 acres of land on Bushkill Hill Mountain off Interstate 81 and Montdale Road, near the Benton Twp. border. The warehouses have a combined footprint of nearly 1.9 million square feet.
The developer is clearing the site to prepare for construction of the warehouses and a road that will connect them to Montdale Road, township Manager Carl Ferraro said. Township officials expect the developer will begin construction of a bridge crossing the south branch of Tunkhannock Creek later in the fall.
Supervisor Chairman Michael Giannetta said the warehouses are located in the township’s industrial zone, which he said is an isolated area far from residential properties.
Giannetta said the warehouses have a economic benefit, as they would pay an estimated $57,000 in taxes to the township and $900,000 to the Lakeland School District yearly. Supervisors rejected Core5’s request for a tax abatement.
“We need to encourage commercial development in our township,” Giannetta said. Supervisors haven’t raised taxes since 2002 as a result of development, including the Scott Technology Park, he said.
The warehouses won’t carry any toxic materials or garbage, or emit pollution, Giannetta said.
“To me, this is the least obtrusive,” he said.
Water, pollution, traffic concerns remain
Grayek and other residents of Scott and Benton townships and other municipalities formed the grassroots organization Protect Rural Lackawanna, to fight development. Their main concerns with the project are pollution and traffic.
Residents also are concerned about the site’s water use and its impact particularly in Benton Twp., where property owners use well water.
Benton Twp. residents Michael Abballe and his wife, Megan Herring, fear more traffic outside their home on Route 438 once the warehouses are completed.
“We see it all the time,” Herring said. “Like the tractor-trailers, they’re too big for a lot of these roads. They can’t stay in their lane. They’re always going in the middle. It’s dangerous with all the blind curves and everything that’s around here.”
A number of accidents over the years have occurred on Routes 438 and 107, with the intersection of those two roads being particularly dangerous, Herring and Abballe said.
Grayek first noticed work to clear the site starting in August. He and others don’t like that the work starts early in the morning, with noise from the construction site as early as 6 a.m., he said.
His main concerns are light, sound, water and air pollution. Grayek said there will be loading docks with diesel trucks coming out onto Montdale Road, adding to potential pollution. He also worries about its proximity to Lakeland High School.
“This township … they didn’t care that this was being polluted,” he said. “There is no warehouse ordinance. They can pull out as much water as they want from wells. They could pollute as much light as they want. They could run 50 diesel generators 24/7, no limits.”
From left, Michael Abballe, his wife Megan Herring, holding their son Frankie, 2, Herb Grayek, of Scott Twp., and Renee Czubowicz, of North Abington Twp., stand for a photograph on the property of Herb Grayek overlooking land currently being developed in Scott Twp. Thursday, October 22, 2026. (SEAN MCKEAG / STAFF PHOTOGRAPHER)
A swath of land in the distance undergoes developement near the property of Scott Township resident Herb Grayek Thursday, October 22, 2026. (SEAN MCKEAG / STAFF PHOTOGRAPHER)
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From left, Michael Abballe, his wife Megan Herring, holding their son Frankie, 2, Herb Grayek, of Scott Twp., and Renee Czubowicz, of North Abington Twp., stand for a photograph on the property of Herb Grayek overlooking land currently being developed in Scott Twp. Thursday, October 22, 2026. (SEAN MCKEAG / STAFF PHOTOGRAPHER)
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Project details
The township supervisors granted the developer conditional use of the site in 2024 and the land development plans last year. Core5 purchased five tracts totaling $7 million off Route 107 near I-81 from Davis Investment Group, which had owned the site since 2022.
The site is rural, bordered by woods and open space, with I-81 on the western border and Montdale Road on the south. It includes the construction of a driveway opposite the I-81 ramps and widening the existing Montdale Road.
The land is zoned for industrial use, and supervisors approved a curative amendment to rezone part of the land industrial in 2021.
The warehouses have setbacks on the front, rear and side ranging from 25 to 50 feet. The first warehouse has 690 parking spaces, 253 total trailer spaces, 212 total dock spaces that are each 15 feet wide, while the second warehouse has 420 parking spaces, 166 total trailer spaces and 130 total dock spaces, each 15 feet wide.
The developer outlined the warehouses’ principal uses as being for storing raw materials, finished products, fuel, machinery and equipment. It will not not include the manufacturing, production, storage or disposal of flammable or explosive materials. The developers will prohibit the storage of any waste materials including liquid, solid, toxic, radioactive or hazardous waste on the premises.
Giannetta said Core5 is marketing the warehouses as a distribution center for lease but does not have a tenant lined up.
They plan to relocate Bushko’s and Hohensee roads and connect them to Montdale Road, across from the existing ramp from I-81.
The developer plans to add stop signs throughout the site, and expects minimal pedestrian traffic. Above and below ground stormwater management facilities are planned, with runoff flowing overland or through pipes and discharge to the South Branch Tunkhannock Creek, surrounding wetlands or existing nearby stormwater sewer facilities.
The project will be served by on-lot water supply wells and on-lot sanitary sewage and disposal systems, with sewage treated on site with a wastewater treatment plant that will discharge to the south branch of Tunkhannock Creek.
The developer received authorization to discharge stormwater in January from the Lackawanna County Conservation District.
However, the district found in August the developers failed to comply with state Department of Environmental Protections regulations or the Clean Streams Law, failure to minimize the extent and duration of earth disturbance, maximize protection of existing drainage features and vegetation and soil compaction, failing to take steps to implement techniques to avoid soil erosion and failing to prevent pollutants from entering the water, according to inspection reports from the conservation district.
The developer did install berms, filters and mats to prevent further soil erosion, as well as installed a temporary bridge, vegetation and sediment traps, according to the reports. But a recent inspection earlier this month indicated they again failed to take steps to prevent pollutants from entering the water, there was unauthorized discharge of of polluting substances into the water, they failed to comply with DEP regulations and failed to maximize protection of existing drainage features and vegetation and soil compaction.
Outdoor noise is not expected to exceed 65 decibels, and any outdoor lighting will have diffusers.
Efforts to reach Core5 representatives about their plans were unsuccessful.
No data centers
Giannetta emphasized Core5’s plans only call for warehouses and there are no plans to develop data centers there. If someone wanted to develop a data center, they would have to apply with the township, the plans would have to be heard a public hearing and receive conditional use, he said.
“They’d have to restart the whole process for a data center application,” Giannetta said.
Township zoning limits data centers to the industrial zone, the same zone as warehouses. Giannetta said the area doesn’t have the infrastructure needed for a data center: high-tension power lines and public water.
‘Gonna be gone’
As Grayek surveyed the site last week from an overlook on his property, he worried about the potential impact the warehouses will have on the surrounding area.
“As you drive out, look to the left, look to the right, look in front of you and you look all around here, it’s gonna be gone,” he said.