Dec 11, 2021 5 min read

DONORA – Kenric Manor, a former personal care home, has been approved for housing for international students.

A motion to approve a conditional-use request passed by a 4-3 margin Thursday during Donora Borough Council’s meeting.

Voting in favor of the motion were council President Michael McDowell and fellow council members Donald Greco, Cindy Brice and Edward “Sonny” Lawson. Voting against the motion were council members P. Jane Ackerman, Edward Parquette and Donald Pavelko

Future iService LLC., which is based in New York, purchased the facility at 116 Kenric Ave. from a subsidiary of Mon Valley Hospital at a private auction in August.

Mathein Jiang, owner of Future iService, attended Thursday’s meeting. He said the company owns similar facilities in Wisconsin and New York.

“He has a long tenure in international education here in the United States,” said attorney Victor Kustra, who represented Jiang Thursday. “He’s very passionate about international studies and allowing international students to have the opportunity to come and learn here, specifically in rural areas. He believes that that’s a core element in the true international experience here in the United States.”

Jiang said he hopes to enter into agreements with local colleges such as Penn State Fayette and Westmoreland County Community College to have international students who attend those institutions stay at the facility, but he is not currently aligned with any local colleges.

The plan is to have 10 to 15 students housed there by September 2022 with that number growing to up to 40 by September 2023. If there’s not 10-15 students by September, Jiang said his company would wait another year to open the dormitory. Most of the students would be first- or second-year college students primarily from Europe and Asia.

Jiang said he has no other plans for the building and is confident his company will be able to recruit students for this area.

Council members asked Jiang a number of questions, including one posed by Greco as to what the plans are to keep the students from being rowdy.

“We will have a 24-hour dorm supervisor there to live with them,” Jiang said. “Also, we will have two residential assistants to live with the dorm supervisor.”

Jiang said students will be back at the dorm about 6-6:30 p.m. and would stay there for the evening.

“They would not be going out in the evening,” he said. “After they return to the dorm they will have dinner and they will study there and go to bed around 10 or 11 o’clock.”

Jiang said any student who breaks rules established as part of their living arrangements would be dismissed.

“Any student who has criminal activity will be sent back to their home country immediately,” Jiang said.

Pavelko asked why Jiang hadn’t come before council or the planning commission before its last meeting.

Jiang said he was advised he was not required to attend those prior meetings.

Pavelko cited that as his reason for voting against the motion.

“If you would have come earlier and explained it to the planning commission a little better than it was explained,” he said. “But at this time I don’t know.”

Greco said he has had favorable experiences hosting foreign exchange students in the past.

“They’re here to study and learn, I’m in favor of it,” he said.

The proposal was the subject of a number of meetings with the borough’s planning commission.

The planning commission eventually cast a tie vote, a fifth member was not in attendance at that meeting, and the proposal was advanced to council for approval.

Citizens had raised concerns at those planning commission meetings about parking in the area.

Jiang said Thursday the international students will not be driving to the schools.

“It is difficult for international students to get a drivers license in the United States,” Jiang said. “In our agreement with the students and the parents, we do not allow any of our students to own a car, rent a car or drive a car when they live in our dorm.”

He added that a van will be provided to take the students to and from the college they attend. As the number of students increases, that could be upgraded to a bus to transport the students.

“We would only need the parking lot for the dorm supervisor and the residential assistants,” Jiang said.

As for food, Jiang said meals will be ordered for the students from local restaurants but they will eat at the facility.

The building has been vacant since 2018, when it was shut down because of various health code violations.

In August 2018, the personal care home, then known as Miller’s Corner Cottage, was evacuated after it appeared the owner had abandoned the business. Only 13 residents remained at the home at the time, down from 66 just six months earlier. Also, employees of the facility had reported their paychecks had bounced.

This was a month after the home was notified by the State Department of Human Services it needed to correct 55 violations that had been noted in an inspection earlier that year.