HARMONY — Borough council has alleged Calvin Presbyterian Church violated the borough’s land development ordinance for more than a year by not submitting all required paperwork following a year of correspondence.

The violation relates to the church’s demolition of a house at 101 N. Division St. Before church officials attended the borough planning commission’s July 16 meeting, it had not submitted a land development application, according to Borough Council President Greg Such.

Although that application has been submitted, Such said the church has yet to send in a stormwater management plan, part of the yearlong dispute over the demolition.

Jim Willard, who represented the church before the planning commission, was unavailable for comment. The Rev. Doug Gebhard, the church’s interim pastor, said Willard is the only person affiliated with the church who could accurately comment on the situation.

“Unfortunately, I can’t provide you accurate information at this time because Mr. Willard, who is the chair of the committee assigned with communicating with the borough, is on vacation and is out of communication,” Gebhard said.

An August 2018 letter from Such informed the church that it needed to submit a development application to the planning commission to stay in compliance with borough ordinances. Such attached a blank application with the letter.

Three months later, borough solicitor Matt Racunas sent a follow-up letter to the church as a “formal notification” that the church was in violation of the borough’s land development ordinance. Racunas noted in his Nov. 13, 2018, letter that Harmony ordinances allow the borough to take civil action against those who are noncompliant and collect up to $500 per day in fines so long as they are not in compliance.

According to correspondence obtained by the Eagle, the church failed to submit an application by April 1, 2019, when Racunas sent another letter. The solicitor wrote in the letter that a church staff member said they would file the necessary documents with the borough, but that promise was unfulfilled.

“Nevertheless, you have failed and/or refused to submit the required application and follow the necessary process,” Racunas wrote.

Again, Racunas told the church of corrective action the borough could take if it remained out of compliance, saying that the church’s “exposure in this matter is significant.”

“Be advised that if the violation is not corrected within 10 days, I have been instructed to pursue litigation,” the solicitor added.

Such said the borough has not initiated a lawsuit against the church, preferring to help it through the standard land development program.

“Since it’s a not-for-profit, volunteer agency, we’re continuing to work with them through the system,” he said.

While the borough is working with the church through that system, the church still has not submitted required parts of its application, according to Such. At a recent borough council meeting, the municipality authorized its engineer to review or create a stormwater management plan for the church, but that plan has not yet been put together.

Such said he has not heard if the church has contacted the engineer, and added the borough referred Racunas to inform them of that possibility. Racunas was not immediately available for comment.