CORRECTED: H2 is buying part of the property, not the entire property.
SUNBURY – A zoning hearing is set to take place Wednesday afternoon to determine whether a Sunbury church can use part of the former Bimbo bakery for their new headquarters. Sunbury Zoning Officer Mike Rhoades says the hearing to allow H2 Church to use about one third of the former bakery plant will take place Wednesday at 4 p.m. in city hall.
Rhoades says H2 Church originally applied to utilize some of the approximately five-acre property December 22, that application for a variance was denied by the city zoning office because it didn’t meet the permitted usages for the industrial area. The church wants to use the space for a school, daycare, and counseling center. Rhoades says the Wednesday’s hearing is H2 appealing the application denial.
If H2 is granted the variance during Wednesday’s hearing, the church wouldn’t have to pay any property taxes on their part of the building because they are a non-profit. Sunbury Treasurer Kevin Troup says the city would lose about $7,000 in tax revenue, Northumberland County would lose $6,000, and the Shikellamy School District would lose well over $19,000. It’s not clear if Troup was referring to taxes from the entire property or just the portion H2 wishes to buy.