Economic revitalization is a constant talking point in Columbia Borough, be it on the street or in the chambers of borough council.
A centerpiece of that discussion for the past two years has been the McGinness Innovation Park, a business park anchored by a drone research center slated for 58 acres at the borough's southern edge.
The borough bought the land, formerly home to McGinness Airport, in 2021 for $1.5 million. In July 2022, Commonwealth Financing Authority approved a $3.3 million grant and a $5 million loan for development of the park. Borough Manager Mark Stivers says some of the specifications of the project are still on the drawing board, but dirt should be moving sometime next spring.Councilman Eric Kauffman, one of three Republican incumbents up for reelection in the Nov. 7 general election, said the business venture has the potential to generate some much-needed revenue in a borough that struggles to balance its books.
One of his opponents this fall, Democrat Brad Chambers, isn’t quite as sold on the idea.
“I think it’s speculative investing,” said Chambers, a labor administrator for Penske Corp., who would like to see more money invested in infrastructure such as dog waste stations and more trash cans. “I think that our taxpayer funds should be going toward improving the lives of the citizens and not toward real estate projects or special interest groups.”
A centerpiece of that discussion for the past two years has been the McGinness Innovation Park, a business park anchored by a drone research center slated for 58 acres at the borough's southern edge.
The borough bought the land, formerly home to McGinness Airport, in 2021 for $1.5 million. In July 2022, Commonwealth Financing Authority approved a $3.3 million grant and a $5 million loan for development of the park. Borough Manager Mark Stivers says some of the specifications of the project are still on the drawing board, but dirt should be moving sometime next spring.Councilman Eric Kauffman, one of three Republican incumbents up for reelection in the Nov. 7 general election, said the business venture has the potential to generate some much-needed revenue in a borough that struggles to balance its books.
One of his opponents this fall, Democrat Brad Chambers, isn’t quite as sold on the idea.
“I think it’s speculative investing,” said Chambers, a labor administrator for Penske Corp., who would like to see more money invested in infrastructure such as dog waste stations and more trash cans. “I think that our taxpayer funds should be going toward improving the lives of the citizens and not toward real estate projects or special interest groups.”
Other key issues on the minds of candidates this fall: transparency within the borough police force, after residents in the neighborhood of Third and Cherry streets said the department failed to adequately communicate with them following a shots-fired incident in early August; and decorum at council meetings, which have become at times tense and contentious.
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