Columbia Borough seeking bids for major soil remediation at former McGinness Airport

Columbia Borough is moving forward with a soil remediation project at the former McGinness Airport, where decades of fill and buried debris have created conditions that must be addressed before development can proceed.

The borough is currently accepting sealed bids for the Phase I soil remediation work, with proposals due by on Thursday, June 19, 2025, through the online PennBid Program.

Engineering assessments have found issues at the site, according to Jason Best of ELA Group and Derek Rinaldo, the borough's engineer who has overseen the project since its inception. During a February 25, 2025 Columbia Borough Council meeting, Best described the scope of the problem as including "deleterious materials, including whatever junk was buried through the course of all the flattening for the runways years and years ago." According to a borough legal notice published in LNP/LancasterOnline (10/13/22), "the site has been found to be contaminated with metals which has contaminated soil on the site." 

According to Rinaldo, the southern runway was built with improperly compacted fill material that was "just dumped,” creating what he characterized as "fluffy soil" with compaction levels that are "all over the place."

The cleanup
Remediation will involve stabilizing the ground to support future buildings through a multi-step process. Teams will sift contaminated areas to remove materials that don't belong in the soil, while buried organic matter such as trees will be chipped on-site rather than transported elsewhere.

Best explained that the goal is to create a "blank slate" for future development by removing all fill material placed at the site and returning the soil to its original condition. The process is expected to take three to four months once work begins.

The project operates under an NPDES permit obtained in January, which provides the legal ability to "move dirt around" at the site. The remediation work is also subject to Pennsylvania's Prevailing Wage Act.

Contractors interested in bidding must provide financial security equal to 5% of the maximum bid amount, either through a surety bond or certified check made payable to Columbia Borough. Complete project documentation is available at no cost through the PennBid Program website.

Development plans remain “up in the air”
Borough officials have said that specific development plans for the business park remain undefined. Council President Heather Zink noted that officials will work on site-development plans over the winter, commenting, "Who knows what a developer will want to locate there."

Mayor Leo Lutz advocated for selling the property as a blank slate instead of installing any infrastructure, allowing developers flexibility.