Butler Township officials hosted a groundbreaking on Wednesday at the future home of the Butler Township municipal building and police station on Site 11 in the CAN DO Corporate Center in Drums.
The $4 million building project includes a 13,500-square-foot facility that will house Butler Township’s police station, detention area, administration building and zoning office and an additional 4,300-square-foot police storage garage. Township officials expect to move into the new facility in February of 2018.
Butler Township officials finalized the purchase of the five-acre lot on Site 11 in the Corporate Center late last year. Butler Township was looking for a location that would help it better serve the township’s growing population in terms of emergency response time and convenience when conducting municipal business.
Brian Kisenwether, chairman of the Butler Township board of supervisors, said, “I speak for my fellow board members and myself when I say that public safety has always been a top priority for this administration. We want to make sure we have a strong and effective police department for our residents. As our population grows, so must our services. We outgrew our current municipal building about a decade ago but we did not want to make a move of this magnitude until we had sufficient revenue resources to do so without impacting our current tax rate. We are also hopeful with this progressive move to the CAN DO Corporate Center that we can attract more business and jobs to this beautiful area in the Butler valley.”
Although township officials considered several properties for the new municipal building, they ultimately found several benefits from the CAN DO Corporate Center location that helped finalize the selection process. The pad-ready site will allow the township to save a significant amount of money in construction costs and access to the Corporate Center’s natural gas resources will provide a savings for a building that will be operational around the clock.
Butler Township Manager Maryanne Petrilla said working with CAN DO to select the site and finalize the deal was a smooth process and township officials are looking forward to their new home.
“CAN DO has been a great partner to us over the years in improving our economic development and creating jobs. They have been extremely easy to work with and we look forward to a continued relationship,” she said.
CAN DO President and CEO Kevin O’Donnell said, “CAN DO’s relationship with Butler Township goes all the way back to 1989 when a search committee recommended that CAN DO purchase 1,025 acres of land here at the intersection of Route 309 and 80 to be used principally as a business park. That was the start of the CAN DO Corporate Center.
“Our vision for this business park was shared by the Butler Township Board of Supervisors in 1989, and Butler Township remains a supportive partner in economic development and we are excited to have the township’s office complex in the Corporate Center.”
The CAN DO Corporate Center is located along State Route 309 and just minutes from Interstates 80 and 81. The park offers a number of infrastructure incentives including easy access to utilities as well as a telecommunications network. The state-of-the-art telecommunications system features 100-percent digital switching, a fiber-optic network and available, dedicated internet access.
Pictured, from left, are: Brian Sabatini, Butler Township police chief; Dr. John Madden, CAN DO Board of Directors chairman; Kevin O’Donnell, CAN DO president and CEO; Dan Guydish, representing the Greater Hazleton Chamber of Commerce; Charlie Altmiller, Butler Township supervisors vice-chairman; David Pedri, Luzerne County manager; Brian Kisenwether, Butler Township supervisors chairman of the board; Bob Dougherty, from RJD Engineering; Dr. Frank Polidora, Butler Township supervisors secretary/treasurer; Maryanne Petrilla, Butler Township manager; Gregg Pavlick, from Barry Isett, Inc.; Joe Calabrese, from RJD Engineering; John Sidari, from M&J Excavation, Inc.; Jim Vozar, construction manager from JVI, Inc.; and Paul Lewis, architect from Williams Kinsman Lewis Architechture.