Cornwall Borough adopts blasting ordinance, advances Cobalt Alley matter

This article was funded by LebTown donors as part of our Civic Impact Reporting Project.

Blasting has been a major topic of discussion in Cornwall Borough amid ongoing land development and, after months of debate, borough council on Monday night gave final approval to a new blasting ordinance.

Key provision of the ordinance include: 

• Blasting may only occur during the hours of 8 a.m. and 5 p.m. Monday through Friday. No blasting is permitted on federal holidays.
• All property owners within 1,000 feet of the site must be notified at least three weeks prior to blasting. The notice will have the name, address, email address, and phone number of the contractor listed.
• Blasting permits are valid for 90 days.

Mike Swank of Byler Holdings expressed several concerns about the ordinance during last month’s council meeting, which he reiterated again prior to the vote Monday. Among them, he repeatedly described the ordinance’s 1,000-foot distance requirements as arbitrary and raised concerns about the length of time blasting permits would remain valid.

Prior to the adoption of the ordinance, the borough had no local regulations governing blasting activities. However, all projects were still required to comply with Pennsylvania Department of Environmental Protection regulations, including obtaining a state blasting permit through the DEP.

Projects requiring blasting will continue to need DEP approval in addition to obtaining a borough blasting permit under the new ordinance. At this time, the borough does not yet have an application process in place for local blasting permits.

Council president Bruce Harris was the sole vote against accepting the ordinance. 

Council also voted to accept two other ordinances, one with a focus on data center, solar, and wind energy facilities and the other for camping. 

A public hearing was held at the start of the meeting for the ordinance on data centers. No public comment was made directly about the content of the borough’s ordinance, however a public question was raised about why the borough doesn’t ban data centers outright. 

Solicitor Josele Cleary clarified that municipalities cannot outright ban data centers, as Pennsylvania law prohibits local governments from excluding lawful businesses entirely; however, boroughs can make approval more difficult through extensive zoning and land-use regulations. 

Another longstanding issue saw action during the meeting as council voted to authorize advertisement to accept a portion of Cobalt Alley and Iron Valley Drive for the sum of $36,500.

The amount is requested by Byler Holdings for what they have calculated in a decrease in land value caused by the right-of-way, along with associated landscaping costs.

Prior to the vote council members had an extensive conversations with each other and with Jonathan Byler and Swank of Byler Holdings. Harris noted that while the agreement may not be ideal he felt the conversation on this issue has been going on long enough and wanted to see if move forward. 

“We need to resolve this,” Harris said. “There’s things here that I think a number of the council people are not comfortable with, I am not comfortable with some of it but I also realize the people who live in brick row are in a bind, there between a rock and a hard place with a place to park.”

“To that point,” council member Julie Bowman said. “I suspect it doesn’t have to be solved tonight because the people of brick row are going to park where they’re going to park moving forward, and at some point the lot may or may not get sold, so we can always deal with it when cooler heads prevail.”

After Bowman’s comment, P&Z chair Ray Fratini shouted from the audience asking how much longer they would drag this issue out. 

The motion ultimately passed in a 6-2 vote, with Bowman and Thomas Burton voting against.  

This topic first came to light in the borough council meeting back in November 2025, when there was a question as to who owns the alley. 

“It was not thought about when we looked at the (development) plans about people parking back there, and then if they’re going to have enough room to navigate back there, that’s how this whole thing came it be,” said council member John Karinch.

Following advertisement, the matter will once again be brought in front of the council for a final consideration and vote. 

Bowman brought to council’s attention the idea of looking into applying for state grants for borough projects, in which she highlighted in her research on the topic that Cornwall Properties LLC, a division of Byler Holdings, recently received a grant in the amount of $1,157,000.  

While Swank did not provide details on how the funding would be used, the listed project name for the grant was “Cornwall Properties MTF Project.”

Bowman also provided council with an update on planning for a traffic study to be done in the borough, in which she more narrowly defined scope of working looking to be completed along with three companies she plans to reach out to for estimates. Township engineer Jeff Steckbeck noted the companies that Bowman had listed would not charge the township anything for estimates. 

Council member John Karinch raised a question to Swank if there had been a traffic study done on the Knoll project previously.  Swank explained that per the borough’s ordinance for land development, a traffic study is required, and therefore they had already gone through the process for that project. 

Cornwall resident Jane Clark expressed her desire for the council to not only conduct a traffic study of their own but to look past what’s on the paper and hear out the concerns of the residents, citing that what you see on paper is not always an accurate reflection of the lived experience.  

“After living here for 14 years we have experienced growth that is almost reaching the point of overdevelopment,” said Clark. “This place is beautiful but to watch is be turned into a commodity is heartbreaking.”

Bowman also updated council that a public meeting regarding the warehouse/mixed-use development project will be pushed back from a proposed date in the first week of June to an undetermined later date until they have more details on the projects. 

In other news:

• Harris noted at the start of the meeting that council held an executive session on April 30 to discuss matters of real estate.
• Heard report that highlighted 156 accounts overdue on water bill payments.
• Reviewed a quote for room microphones and other various technology equipment, for $1,690 with the continued goal to be able to have meeting available via zoom for residents.
• Heard project idea from council member John Lux to explore the option of installing speed tables in locations throughout the borough in hopes to reduce speeding. Lux will begin to explore options and provide an update next month.  
• Approved the hiring of two new part-time police officers.
• Elected Steckbeck as the blasting ordinance enforcement officer

The next borough council meeting will be held Monday, June 1, at 6:30 p.m. at the borough building, 44 Rexmont Road, Lebanon. The meeting is open to the public.