Pennsylvania

Freedom Court is located in Mount Carmel Borough, Northumberland County and is in the heart of Pennsylvania’s Coal Region. The affordable rental housing constructed in 2019-2020 created five units of one-bedroom senior apartments with a military veteran’s preference. The project design of Freedom Court meets the mobility needs of seniors featuring 700 sq ft garden-style apartments with zero step entrances. As of today, all units are occupied by senior veterans.

Existing sidewalks and street curbs were deteriorated beyond repair and was contributing to blighted conditions throughout the neighborhood. The Streetscape/Sidewalk Replacement project addressed multiple states of deterioration and blight throughout the neighborhood.

On September 8, 2011, Tropical Storm Lee produced over 15 inches of rainfall in the 120 square mile Upper Swatara Creek watershed. The north end of Pine Grove Borough is where the most severe flooding impacts the town, 180 residential dwellings, numerous commercial businesses, and the town’s largest employer (Guilford Mills with over 300 employees) were severely impacted. Guillford Mills had 36 inches of water inside it’s facility.
The project utilized approximately 50 acres of open land on the east side of the Swatara Creek to develop a naturalized floodplain area that would alleviate the majority of flooding on the west side of the creek. In the process, the elevation of the land on the east side of the creek was four to five feet, wetlands restored and roads and utilities relocated.