SAINT CLAIR — On Wednesday, the demolition of the former Ritz Theatre will begin, Roland Price Jr., the borough secretary, announced Thursday night.
“The demolition is scheduled for next Wednesday. That’s when it’s going to start,” Price said at a special council meeting to review issues and finance at borough hall.
Nicholas M. Panko, Saint Clair, who owns the former theater building at 31 N. Second St., will have until Tuesday to remove any items from the building, Price said.
“We don’t anticipate any issues. Once this program starts, if there’s an issue with it we have to contact Alfred Benesch & Co. and Alfred Benesch & Co. will contact the contractor,” Price said.
Alfred Benesch, based in Pottsville, is the engineering firm that serves the borough.
On Feb. 16, the borough council hired Affordable Construction and Demolition LLC, Coal Township, Northumberland County, to tear down the former movie house for $63,199.
Federal Community Development Block Grant funding the borough received from Schuylkill County will cover $60,000 of that, and the borough will cover the rest.
In other matters at Thursday’s meeting, representatives of Saint Clair Little League asked the council if they could install a batting cage the community baseball field at 415 E. Hancock St.
Matt Filiac, the league’s president, and Bob Houston, the league’s secretary, said the cage and the installation will cost the league “about $4,000.”
“We’re looking to install a batting cage at our field and we’re looking for permission from council to kind of get the project moving. It’s 55-feet long by 14-feet wide. And we’re looking to station it in left center field behind where the walkway and the fence is, the wooden fence. There won’t be any cost or liability to the borough. But, since the field is borough property, we want to go about this the right way,” Filiac told the council.
“We have the cage. We just want to make sure it’s OK. It will be just beyond the wooden fence, past the walking trail,” Houston said.
“So the asphalt won’t be disturbed?” council member John R. Burke asked.
“No. We’re going to lose, probably, four or five parking spots. But it won’t disturb anything else,” Houston said.
“It’s going to be semi-permanent. We’re going to pour a nice concrete pad and dress it up with a sign. Eventually we want to put something around it so it doesn’t get damaged by vehicles or anything else,” Filiac said.
Saint Clair Council President James D. Larish said the council will take action to approve the request at its next regular meeting, slated for 7 p.m. Tuesday at borough hall at 16 S. Third St.
Larish remembered how Filiac once played on the team. “It’s good to see the former players come back and take charge,” Larish said.
“It’s fun. And we had a lot of good mentors growing up,” Filiac said.