The project will cost $100 million to complete. The estimated real estate tax is $1 million annually. All signs point to the project being a boom for the Blair County economy, but environmentalists are stepping up in opposition.
The list of supporters is large for the Logan Town Centre project. It has the backing of Governor Ed Rendell, Senator Robert Jubelirer, Rep. Rick Geist, Rep. Jerry Stern, the president of Altoona City Council and two of the Logan Township supervisors.
It has also drawn opposition from Audubon Pennsylvania, the Raymond Proffitt Foundation, the Pennsylvania Federation of Sportsman’s Clubs, the Little Juniata Chapter of Flyfishermen, Penn State Eco Action and the Juniata Valley Audobon Chapter.
Some of the objections have dealt with the placement of the shopping center.
One example claims that the setting is near the ridgetop of Brush Mountain versus the valley floor.
According to a release from Morris Management, the developer of the project, “The project site itself is contained within approximately 1,000 feet from the I-99 right-of-way on the valley floor. The development does not disturb the large expansive and matured forest on the Brush Mountain area above the centre. The land above the centre is not owned by the developer and is zoned residential by Logan Township.”
Another claim is that the site will fragment mature forested habitat.
In the release, Morris Management says, “The project engineer, The EADS Group, identified 22 species of birds that habitat the area. The goal of the Bird Species Assessment was to determine the number of species and/or breeding species in the project area, but to determine the absense/presence of forest interior species within the project area. Twenty-two species of birds typical of such disturbed/successional shrub areas were identified during two days of documentation. No bird species exclusive to forest interior habitat were identified.”
On the business side of the project, there are people opposed to the project saying that it will drive places like K-Mart out of business.
“K-Mart is driving K-Mart out of business,” said Morris. “We went out of our way to attract businesses that are not in the area already. This project is bringing in new services and new business to the county.”
With anchor stores like Home Depot, Boscov’s and others, what it should do is give residents a larger selection of items.
“It’s just the natural progression of things,” said Morris. “When a Home Depot comes in, Lowe’s will do more advertising and lower prices. When a Boscov’s comes in, Penny’s and Kauffman’s do the same. This project will create the largest shopping area between Pittsburgh and Philadelphia and will benefit the county and its residents.”
The Department of Environmental Protection held a hearing last week to discuss the project and will announce their findings in the March time frame.
Morris hopes with all permits in hand to break ground in April 2003 and the grand opening to take place in April of 2004.
