Restaurant Inspections - Columbia Borough - February 28, 2025

Pour Mans Brewing, 15 Third St., Columbia, Feb. 22. Pass. Food facility has an employee that has taken food safety training program; however, the food safety program was not an ANSI/CFP-accredited certified food manager program.

Andy's Market Inc., 310 11th St., Columbia, complaint, Feb. 21. Pass. No violations.

[LNP | LancasterOnline] Columbia Middle School sixth-grader wins statewide Black History Month essay contest

Columbia Middle School sixth-grader Ayisha Beausejour won a statewide essay contest for Black History Month.

Ayisha's essay highlighting the legacy of Black leaders such as Ruby Bridges and Martin Luther King Jr. was selected from five submissions across the state. She won a certificate of achievement for the accomplishment.

Black History Month means "celebrating all the great things Black people have done and learning what they have gone through," Ayisha wrote in her essay.

Ayisha's teacher, Amy Wright, encouraged her and her peers to participate in the contest.

"Ayisha's essay is a testament to her hard work and passion for learning," Wright said. "She has a unique ability to connect the past to the present, while her words remind us why Black History Month is so important."

MORE:

https://lancasteronline.com/news/local/columbia-middle-school-sixth-grader-wins-statewide-black-history-month-essay-contest/article_4267fbe0-f51f-11ef-9384-5b0208595acd.html?utm_medium=social&utm_source=email&utm_campaign=user-share 

Fate of McGinness airport property "up in the air"

Lutz: “Sell ‘em a blank slate. Put the shingle out, and sell it." [Columbia Spy file photo]

The fate of the former McGinness airport property remains “up in the air.” Columbia Borough Council still doesn't have a definite plan for the site, although several options are on the table. Council even discussed leaving the property a “blank slate” for potential developers, but one thing's almost certain: The drones aren't coming.

DR1, the drone company that council had hoped would anchor the property didn't receive the grant it was seeking. The grant, potentially worth millions, was awarded elsewhere, according to borough engineer Derek Rinaldo. That failure leaves the door open to other possibilities, including allowing manufacturers and distributors to locate there. Before anything happens, however, the ground must be remediated to remove any contamination or objects buried beneath the surface.

On Tuesday, Jason Best of ELA Group and Rinaldo provided council with updates and information on the Phase 1 remediation of the property. (ELA is an engineering firm that has been with the project since the beginning.)

During Phase 1, the ground will be “stabilized” (remediated) to be able to support buildings. Some areas will need to be sifted to remove materials that should not be in the ground. Buried organics, such as trees, will be chipped on site.

Best said geotechnical and soils testing has been done to locate “deleterious” materials, “including whatever junk was buried through the course of all the flattening for the runways years and years ago.”

According to Best, the NPDES permit received in January gives teams the legal ability to “move dirt around out there.” The stabilization process is necessary to create a "blank slate" for future development.

Rinaldo explained that the southern runway will be taken down to its original state because the fill used wasn't properly compacted. Instead it was “just dumped” and therefore cannot be built upon. He referred to it as "fluffy soil" with compaction levels that are "all over the place."

Best said bids are currently being prepared for remediation work, which could take 3 to 4 months, once it gets underway. He noted they don't know what will be built or where, explaining, "The mission is to stabilize and get the soil back to its original state. That means removing the fill material McGinness placed there."

Resident Concerns
Several borough residents expressed concerns about the project:

Mary Wickenheiser asked how neighboring residents will be notified about when work will begin. She expressed concerns about dust and noise that will impact residents.

Doutrich: "It seems like every meeting something changes. Council doesn't know which way they're going on it." [Columbia Spy file photo]

Frank Doutrich said he was concerned because council doesn't seem to have a solid plan, stating, "It seems like every meeting something changes. Council doesn't know which way they're going on it." Councilman Kelly Murphy defended council's position, however, stating that all options are on the table at this point. “It's kind of a wait-and-see game,” Murphy said.

Sharon Lintner asked where she could find the Act 2 report, which details the remediation process. Rinaldo said it will be made public upon completion.

Next Steps
Council discussed selling the property immediately following remediation, though doing so could present complications due to the BIOS (Business in Our Sites) grant and loan the borough applied for.

Zink: "Who knows what a developer will want to locate there." [Columbia Spy file photo]

Once remediation is completed, the borough may move forward with obtaining permits for infrastructure. Heather Zink, council president, said officials will work on site development plans over the winter. "Who knows what a developer will want to locate there,” Zink remarked.

Mayor Leo Lutz advised selling the property as a blank slate, before any infrastructure is placed there. “Sell ‘em a blank slate. Put the shingle out, and sell it,” Lutz said.

Will Columbia Borough have to pay MESA bills?

JOHN DUFFY | FOR LNP | LANCASTERONLINE

MESA is not receiving reimbursements from nonmember municipalities when it responds to ambulance calls. These include Mount Joy and Columbia boroughs, as well as Rapho and West Hempfield townships — areas that chose not to participate in the authority and have benefited from an excess of MESA service calls. In past discussions, elected officials in MESA member municipalities has called the imbalance a theft of services. At a Jan. 29 meeting of northwest county elected officials, it was agreed that letters from member municipalities was a logical next step. Invoices from MESA and face-to-face meetings have yielded no results.

"Both of these are soft. We need to go harder," said Elizabethtown Mayor Chuck Mummert about the two versions of the draft letter. Council member Andrew Schoenberger said the members should offer steps for the nonmember municipalities to either pay MESA back or join the authority, otherwise they're going to continue taking advantage of those who have paid into the service. "Are our residents then going to have to pay more?"

Several Elizabethtown Borough Council members, as well as Mummert, said the letter was not strong enough. Instead, they asked borough staff to rewrite the letter to include information about the costs the regional ambulance authority, commonly called MESA, has had to absorb as a result of the mutual aid imbalance. Mutual aid is when emergency response companies lend assistance across jurisdictional boundaries.

MORE:

https://lancasteronline.com/news/regional/elizabethtown-officials-seek-reimbursement-from-nonmember-municipalities-that-use-ambulance-service/article_ecabf9ac-f390-11ef-b8ea-776096524edf.html 

Governor sues Trump Administration- gets billions in federal funds to Pennsylvania unfrozen

HARRISBURG, Pa. —

Gov. Josh Shapiro announced Monday that $2.1 billion in federal funding to Pennsylvania has been restored.

It comes less than two weeks after the governor filed a lawsuit against the Trump administration to challenge a freeze of the federal funding. At the time, state agencies were unable to access $1.2 billion in federal funding, while an additional $900 million was under review.
MORE:

https://www.wgal.com/article/gov-josh-shapiro-says-federal-funds-to-pennsylvania-have-been-unfrozen/63906559 

Agenda - Columbia Borough Council Meeting - February 25, 2025

The meeting packet is HERE.

Deeds Recorded - Columbia Borough - February 25, 2025

Valley View Capital LLC conveyed 436 N. Fourth St. to Gebremariam Menen Kidane for $215,000.

Procession for fallen Officer Andrew Duarte passes through Columbia Monday morning

The Lancaster County Fire Chiefs Association coordinated a procession to transport fallen West York Borough police officer Andrew Duarte to Lehigh Valley.

The procession departed from the York County Coroner's Office at approximately 7 a.m. Monday, traveling eastbound on Route 30 before heading north on Route 222. Columbia Borough Police officers paid their respects with a salute as the procession passed, and Columbia Borough Firefighters positioned themselves with apparatus on the Major General Edward C. Shannon Memorial Bridge.

Duarte, who had recently turned 30, served as a police officer for more than six years before losing his life in the UPMC Memorial Hospital shooting.

 

About Town - February 23, 2025

 This week's photos of Columbia

Click on photos to see larger, sharper images.

 

Coin collectors

(They collect the coins from the parking meters.)

The top one is different. 

Something happened to the window at Union Station. 

Officers on duty

Two-seater

Meeting at Mount Bethel

Holding the light

What's the point?

At Nouveau Tea, 3rd & Maple

One of several smoke shops around town

There's another holiday just around the corner. 

Saturday evening clouds

Datestone at Columbia Church of God

Ornaments on historic grave markers

A giant branch broke off of this tree in Locust Street Park and was promptly removed.

Cross at the river

Frosty morning 

Scenic Avenue G 

Do not look for welcome here.

Flags waving

The U.S Flag is starting to fray (like the country). 

 There were snow squalls over the past week. 

Fortunately, not much snow was left behind.

The water company is having a roof replaced. 

But the mayor said there are only two officers per shift.

Up, up, and away!

Windy skies

 

###

 

Restaurant Inspections - Columbia Borough - February 21, 2025

Knights of Columbus Home Association, 400 Maple St., Columbia, Feb. 13. Pass. No violations.

Mr. Joe's Steakhouse, 348 Perry St., Columbia, Feb. 11. Pass. Observed raw shell eggs stored above milk in the reach-in cooler. Employee personal items, echinacea and a type of drops, observed stored in the reach-in cooler above food rather than stored on the bottom and segregated.

Parma Pizza & Grill, 256 Market St., Elizabethtown, opening, Feb. 11. Pass. Raw ground beef was stored above ready-to-eat products in the bain-marie; corrected. Observed a moderate amount of static dust on circulating fan at three-compartment sink. Women's toilet room is not provided with a covered waste receptacle for sanitary napkins. Lights are not shielded or shatterproof over the grill area. A working container of caustic oven cleaner was stored above or on the same shelf with food equipment in the main production area.

Chef Lex, 404 Cherry St., Columbia, opening, Feb. 10. Pass. No violations.

Columbia School Board Votes to CUT Property Tax Rate

 

Columbia taxpayers are about to get a break on their taxes. The Columbia Borough School District Board of Directors voted Thursday night to decrease the district's property tax rate by .4 mills. The measure passed unanimously among the seven directors present. The decrease will reduce the current millage from 26.46 to 26.06 mills.

Borough property owners will save approximately $40 per $100,000 of assessed property value.

The tax reduction was made possible by a $179,600 block grant from the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania's Ready to Learn Block Grant Tax Equity Supplement. The funds cannot be used until the 2025-26 fiscal year.

(The 2024-25 fiscal year marked the fifth year in a row without a district tax increase.)

The board had discussed five available options for using the grant before choosing Option 1:

1) Mitigating or preventing an increase in the millage rate of real estate property taxes levied by the school district

2) Supplementing the amount calculated by the school district for the homestead and farmstead exclusion under

3) Establishing, maintaining or expanding a program provided by the school district that supplements senior tax rebates

4) Mitigating or replacing the loss of revenue received by the school district resulting from a decision of a court of this commonwealth from previous five years relating to an assessment appeal

5) Reducing debt.

Agenda - Columbia Borough School Board Meeting - February 20, 2025

 

Agendas - Columbia Borough Planning Commission - February 18, 2025

 

Workshop

Regular Meeting