The Pocono Mountain School District Board of Education delayed a vote on an offer to purchase an unused school building after residents raised questions and concerns at the board’s Aug. 17 meeting.

Core5 Industrial Partners has made an $8.1 million offer for Pocono Elementary Center.

The property borders land that Core5 already owns and has approval from Pocono Township to build a warehouse on. The company is seeking approval on a second warehouse.

The sale agreement included in the board’s meeting agenda does not lay out precise plans for this property, only that it is “for the benefit of a nominee, a yet-to-be-formed single purpose entity, which will be created and disclosed to (PMSD) prior to the Closing Date.”

George Baroudi, who lives on Ruby Lane near the project site, raised traffic and safety concerns about what could happen if truck traffic increases. “We the residents have contributed funding these schools, and now we the residents will get hurt by these warehouses,” he said.

“I understand what you’re saying,” board President Marion Pyzik said, adding that “the sale, too, if it did go through at $8.1 million, would also help taxpayers as well. And the township does do the roads, and they’re required to maintain township roads.”

Guy Doleiden of Ruby Lane also brought up traffic concerns, noting that it’s a safety issue for his two brothers-in-law, who have special needs and like to walk on the neighborhood roads. The project would also bring lights and loud noises right behind his house, he said, if the township approves the second warehouse.

“It’s going to change the quality of our life. We would really like to keep Core5 out of here,” he said.

Related:Pocono Twp. residents raising environmental, traffic concerns about proposed Core5 warehouse

Cynthia Hamill, who lives on the edge of Jackson Township, just over the line from the Warner/Stadden Road area that Core5 is interested in, asked the board to consider existing businesses in its decision.

“We all know what traffic already looks like on 611 and 715,” Hamill said, adding that the opposition is not just a matter of “we want to protect our properties.”

The project will make the area “uninhabitable” for Warner and Stadden Road residents, state Rep. Maureen Madden (D-115) told the board. She painted a version of the future in which visitors “sit in hours and hours and hours of traffic, and you’re going to pass nothing but warehouses and distribution centers on the way to what is supposed to be your idyllic vacation.”

Board Vice President Jacquelyn Leonard motioned that the item be tabled, and the board agreed. It will be brought back up at the Sept. 21 meeting. “It definitely requires more discussion,” Pyzik said.

The Pocono Township Planning Commission has also tabled an item related to Core5, delaying a vote on accepting the second warehouse project for an engineering review. That vote will now come after public comment on Monday, Aug. 29, at the Northampton Community College Monroe Campus. A larger venue was needed after residents were overflowing the usual meeting room during the planning commission’s Aug. 8 meeting.

Residents have also raised environmental concerns, such as potential pollution of Pocono Creek and whether flooding will get worse. Core5 did not respond to requests for comment for previous coverage of residents’ concerns.

The evolution of Pocono Elementary Center

Pocono Elementary Center and Barrett Elementary Center were both closed after the 2012-2013 school year amid declining enrollment.

The district had closed Coolbaugh Elementary Center, Coolbaugh Learning Center and Swiftwater Intermediate School the year before. Swiftwater Intermediate was reopened to accommodate Barrett and Pocono students.

In 2014, PEC was under consideration as a site that could allow Monroe Career and Technical Institute to provide full-day instruction. But ultimately, about five years after closing, the facility reopened as the Coordinated Health Sports Performance Center, where baseball and softball players and other athletes trained. Later, the facility became affiliated with St. Luke’s University Health Network.

From 2013:Two more Pocono Mountain schools to close

Barrett Elementary Center, meanwhile, was sold to Presbyterian Senior Living, which also bought Barrett Learning Center for a combined total of $2 million. That was a private sale that had to be approved by a judge, just as the sale of PEC to Core5 would have to be.

When a school district sells property through a private sale, it goes through a court approval process, which includes obtaining two opinions stating that the price is higher that the district would receive at auction.

Today, the property “is unused and unnecessary for school purposes,” according to the resolution that would authorize the sale.

This article originally appeared on Pocono Record: Core5 has offered to buy Pocono Elementary Center for $8 million