SCRANTON — The city recently completed construction of a salt shed in Pine Brook to replace the old damaged one near Department of Public Works headquarters.
The new shed for road salt, erected along Mineral Avenue across from Mica Street in the small Sandy Banks neighborhood, occupies city-owned land previously deed-restricted since 1943 for playground use.
But over the past eight decades the city never put a playground or anything else on that formerly vacant tract between Mineral Avenue and an active rail line along the east side of the Lackawanna River.
Last fall, the city sought and received court approval to remove the deed restriction to make way for a salt shed to go on the tract.
The city needed a new spot for a salt shed because high winds shredded the canopy of the old DPW salt shed on Grove Street, which is in a flood plain of the Lackawanna River. Flood-control regulations made restoring or replacing the shed in its location cost prohibitive and not feasible, city officials had testified last year in Lackawanna County Court on a petition to remove the deed restriction.
The city had looked around for a location to put a new salt shed and had the Pine Brook site in city ownership since 1943, but that tract came with the deed restriction. The site in Pine Brook was referred to as the Rubin property from the name of the prior owner, Mary Rubin, who conveyed it to the city with the deed restriction.
During the hearing last year, city officials testified to the following:
• The property is zoned light industrial; a salt shed is permitted there and the land is not in a flood zone.
• It is no longer practical or appropriate to put a playground at the Rubin site, which is surrounded by residences to the south, a junkyard to the east, a construction demolition site to the north and the rail line to the west.
• There are several other parks and playgrounds nearby, some in various stages of upgrading.
A judge approved the petition to remove the deed restriction, and the city this year constructed the new salt shed.
In an interview earlier this month, city Business Administrator Eileen Cipriani said the city still needed to install some lighting at the new shed and move leftover road salt there from the old shed.
Monday Update
THEN: Scranton last fall got court approval to build a salt shed on vacant, city-owned land in Pine Brook, to replace an old shed on Grove Street near DPW headquarters.
NOW: The city recently completed construction of the new shed, which is ready to store road salt for the upcoming winter.
Scranton’s new road-salt shed at Mineral Avenue and Mica Street on May 27, 2025. (JIM LOCKWOOD / STAFF PHOTO)
Scranton’s new road-salt shed at Mineral Avenue and Mica Street on May 27, 2025. (JIM LOCKWOOD / STAFF PHOTO)
Scranton’s new road-salt shed at Mineral Avenue and Mica Street on May 27, 2025. (JIM LOCKWOOD / STAFF PHOTO)
Scranton’s new road-salt shed at Mineral Avenue and Mica Street on May 27, 2025. (JIM LOCKWOOD / STAFF PHOTO)
Scranton’s new road-salt shed at Mineral Avenue and Mica Street on May 27, 2025. (JIM LOCKWOOD / STAFF PHOTO)
Scranton’s road-salt shed on Grove Street near the DPW headquarters, in background, shown here in Nov. of 2022. (IMAGE SCREEN COPY / GOOGLE STREET VIEW)
Scranton’s old road-salt shed on Grove Street on May 27, 2025. (JIM LOCKWOOD / STAFF PHOTO)
Scranton’s old road-salt shed on Grove Street on May 27, 2025. (JIM LOCKWOOD / STAFF PHOTO)