BY ROBERT L. BAKER

Wyoming County Press Examiner

Tunkhannock Township supervisors held an end-of-year meeting Thursday to pay bills and also to preliminarily explore a new use for the area now used as a Federal Emergency Management Area trailer park.

The FEMA park was hurriedly created in the fall of 2012 following the flooding of Hurricane Irene and Tropical Storm Lee.

Developer Anthony Talerico, who owns the land leased to FEMA alluded last week to the fact that he hoped to build townhouse apartments on the site when the FEMA park runs its course – about 18 months from December 2011.

Supervisor Glenn ‘Ace’ Shupp said the space was being considered as a location on which affordable apartments for working families might be developed by Trehab, comparable to its development in Mehoopany of the Schoolhouse Hill Apartments.

The supervisors agreed they would like to have a meeting with Trehab’s Dennis Phelps, possibly in advance of their Jan. 7 reorganization meeting to sort out what might be under consideration.

The supervisors all had praise for the holiday light show recently held at the township’s Lazybrook Park,  a show that was developed and implemented by Tunkhannock Area students Alex Nole and Carson Ayers.

“These guys did one heckuva great job,” supervisor Randy White said.

Veto Barziloski agreed and noted that suggestions were coming in as to how it could be improved for future years.

There were requests also to keep it open through New Year’s Day instead of the original closing date of Christmas Eve.

As to whether, the show could continue into the future, Shupp said that will depend on whether persons like Nole and Ayers come forward again.

“It is a lot of work, no question about it,” Shupp said. “We’d like to continue doing it so long as we can find willing volunteers to make it happen.”

Shupp also mentioned that the supervisors were hoping for a meeting over at Milnes next Thursday with Lemon Township regarding the Act 537 plan for Lake Carey and to see if everything was in order to send it on to the State Department of Environmental Protection.

Secretary Judy Gingher polled the supervisors regarding their attendance at the Pennsylvania township supervisors’ convention in Hershey in the spring.

Shupp and Barziloski said they would be going as would Gingher.

Shupp said it was a source for many great ideas.