COLUMBIA SPY

This week's photos of Columbia  She flew into a window and knocked herself out, but five minutes of doctoring brought her back to her senses.  Buckets of coal are ready for the bad kids this Christmas.  Just in time for Christmas, wise guys down at the corner.  Three-quarters of the way down the 400 block of Locust, you'll run into this.  Looking back up the street, you'll see why the sidewalk is blocked.  Even though there was enough space for the barriers to be pulled outward and allow people to walk - especially on Small Business Saturday. Even Columbia Borough had more sense than that down on the 100 block of Locust Street.  The concrete barriers here were placed due to a planned construction project that has apparently failed. Construction projects do that sometimes. The excavated area, which is now affectionately known as "The Hole" by Columbia residents, was to become an apartment building, as Columbia S...

Sharon Lintner and Heather Zink, two of the four newly elected members joining the seven-person council in January, say they appreciate the current council inviting them to the table during three special budget meetings to develop the spending plan, but they were frustrated by not actually having a vote. Both indicated they would have preferred more spending cuts, especially given the incumbents' plan to spend $870,000 of the borough's reserves while at the same time publicly warning the new council members of the need to rebuild the reserves, which were estimated in October at $2.1 million. MORE: https://lancasteronline.com/news/incoming-columbia-council-members-aren-t-happy-with-budget-proposal/article_2783edf0-12c3-11ea-81b7-275772a970eb.html

The Columbia Borough Zoning Hearing Board met Wednesday night to consider requests from Cimarron Investments LLC relating to the Chip Factory Hotel project.  The proposed Chip Factory Hotel has been cut down to size. The hotel, which was to encompass 6 stories and 91 rooms, is now projected to have 4 stories and 80 rooms and will stand 70 feet high, according to architect Paul Nikolaus. The change was requested in a last-minute submission to the Columbia Borough Zoning Hearing Board on Wednesday night by applicant Cimarron Investments LLC. After a nearly four-hour hearing that included testimony by, and cross-examinations of, parties to the hearing, the board granted all special exceptions and variances requested. Board member David Brumbaugh made the motion to grant Cimarron's requests on all conditions stated by the solicitor. The motion, as read by board solicitor Josele Cleary, was as follows: "A motion to grant the special exceptions and variances identified in...