Castanea Township Supers discuss Chestnut Festival, ATV vote, natural gas expansion

By Christopher Miller

CASTANEA TOWNSHIP – Castanea Township Supervisors met Monday evening for their monthly meeting with a rather full agenda.

First on the agenda was the ever-continuing issue of water leaks in the township. “We advised residents to contact the City of Lock Haven if they encounter any more water leaks than the recent discovery along Greenwood Avenue,” Supervisor Coleman said.

Supervisor John Gradel also announced a grant opportunity available through DCED and Main Street Matters that the township “may be able to qualify for” to help fund some projects.

During the Zoning portion of the meeting, it was announced that First Quality is looking to open a battery energy storage system and that the local fire department will need to be involved for inspections of the site.

The Recreation Committee, which has grown by leaps and bounds in recent years, gave an update on everything event-wise happening in the township.

Led by Rick Schulze, he started by giving information on the Halloween Parade taking place on Sunday, October 27. “The parade starts at four, and if there is rain, the rain date is the next day, Monday,” Schulze said. “The theme for the township is “going nuts for chestnuts” to promote the Chestnut Festival and we were. hoping our supervisors would dress up as a beaver, a squirrel, and a groundhog,” he said jokingly. Trick or treat was also announced as taking place on Halloween night, October 31, from 6 to 8 p.m.

He also said that the search is on for this year’s township Christmas tree and that they will be visiting other local tree farms in search of the tree. “We want to rival Rockefeller Center.”

An update was given on the recent ATV Special Meeting.

“There were probably 30-40 people here that night,” Coleman began. “It was a mixed bag of feelings, and after the budget season we will work to put together a draft ordinance for the community to review and we will make it fair by doing something like a referendum on the May ballot to give the people a chance to vote on it. It would just be on our roads and maybe in the future extend it after we see how it goes.”

The topic of extending the natural gas line throughout the township was also explored, with a letter recently going out to gas utility provider UGI.

“We wrote UGI a letter asking if we could have a discussion to expand natural gas in the township and that we had several residents who are interested,” Gradel said. “We heard back from a person with UGI, their local Business Development Director, who would be happy to speak with us. We have invited him to a work session on October 21 to see what the process looks like and the opportunity to do this.”

During the new business portion of the meeting the township voted to donate $75 to the marching bands at Central Mountain High School, Bucktail High School, and Sugar Valley Rural Charter School.

“This helps to defray the cost of bus transportation to and from the parade since the individual groups have to pay for their own transportation for extracurricular activities.”

In addition, supervisors voted to pay $1,000 for a polka band from Wilkes-Barre to play during the PA Chestnut Festival on January 25.

“We received a tourism grant for the inaugural festival which will be held at the Fireman’s Picnic Grounds on January 25 from 2 to 7 p.m. with vendors, crafters, food stands, and a brewery making a chestnut-based brew,” Rick Schulze said.

Lastly, the Keystone Central School District Recreation Program for 2025 reached out to township supervisors, saying that next summer’s program will begin on June 16 and will last for eight weeks, ending on August 8 for students aged 5-12 from 9:30 a.m. to 12 p.m.

“They are requesting $1,000, up $100 from $900 this past summer,” Coleman said. “I think this is always money well spent, it gives the parents something to do, and I vote that we pay for this after the first of the year.”

All supervisors were in attendance on Monday evening.