Columbia Borough Schedules Spring Clean-Up and Large Appliance Collection Day for Friday, April 25

Columbia Borough has scheduled its annual Spring Clean-Up Day along with a Large Appliance Collection for Friday, April 25, 2025, from 8 a.m. to noon.

Borough employees will team up with community volunteers to clean streets, sidewalks, and parks throughout Columbia. In case of inclement weather, the clean-up portion of the event will be rescheduled to Friday, May 2, 2025.

Residents interested in volunteering for the clean-up effort should contact Pam at armoldp@columbiapd.org or call 717-684-7735.

The Large Appliance Collection will occur simultaneously. Borough officials emphasize that all items must be tagged for collection. .

The Borough Office is located at 308 Locust Street, Columbia, PA 17512. For more information about either event, residents can call the office at (717) 684-2467.

The McGinness Innovation Park: How much will it cost?

At Tuesday's meeting, Columbia Borough Council voted to close on a $5.4 million loan aimed at developing the McGinness Innovation Park. The loan is paired with a $3.35 million grant. Both amounts, which total $8.75 million, are funded through a Business in Our Sites (BIOS) program administered by the Commonwealth Financing Authority, which provides funds to municipalities and other entities to prepare sites for development. In order to receive the grant, the borough was required to close on the loan.

Columbia Borough purchased the 58-acre McGinness property for $1.5 million on August 20, 2021.

Following is a breakdown of costs associated with the project:

The estimate to develop the tract as of summer 2022 was $12 million, according to BizNewsPA (7/20/22). Columbia initially paid $1.5 million to purchase the property. The total of those two figures is $13.5 million.

Along the way, the borough received a $1 million Department of Community and Economic Development (DCED) grant from the state. Deduct that from the $13.5 million above to get $12.5 million.

As mentioned above, the borough was approved for a $3.35 million BIOS grant. So, deduct that from the $12.5 million to get $9.15 million. That's the total amount the borough will owe. The amount includes the $5.4 million loan that was approved, since it must be paid back, most likely with interest (see below).

These figures could vary somewhat, but unless the borough somehow secures yet another grant, $9.15 million is a good "ballpark" figure. Officials hope that leasing or selling parcels (or possibly the whole property) will generate revenue. If that can be done, the $9.15 million figure would certainly be mitigated - or, ideally, eliminated.

Over the past few years, the borough has already spent about half a million on testing and maintenance of the property, asbestos abatement and demolition of the former McGinness home, the purchase and demolition of 700 Franklin Street and other buildings, as well as the purchase of an additional tract along Plane Street- just to get the project started.

Regarding the $5.4 million loan, the borough has 5 years to pay it back. Columbia will need to reimburse the state about $158,000 for every acre sold (LNP 3/5/22). After five years, the state will amortize the loan over 15 years and charge 3% interest.

In sum, this project could be costly for a long time.

Audio problems continue to plague Columbia Borough livestreams

This is a tale of two "cities":

According to LNP/LancasterOnline, Tuesday's Lancaster City Council meeting was canceled due to technical problems. Council members decided to postpone the meeting until the problem is fixed.

"Council President Amanda Bakay said the meeting recording, streamed to the city’s YouTube channel (CityofLancasterPAGov), was not picking up audio to broadcast to listeners at home. Residents have come to rely on a live recording of every council meeting, Bakay said, so council members agreed to delay the meeting until the problem is fixed," the article states.

(The meeting was rescheduled for next week.)

Columbia Borough, on the other hand, did not cancel its Tuesday night council meeting, despite similar technical problems. (In fact, Columbia Borough has never canceled a meeting due to such problems.)

The borough’s livestreams have been plagued by audio issues for about six months, and this latest meeting was no exception. Officials are well aware of the problem but have so far - for some reason - been unable to fix it.

At the March 11, 2025 meeting, Mayor Leo Lutz said that a technician had spent several hours at borough hall, working to fix the problem. Unfortunately, the audio quality is still poor, and many conversations are hard to understand. At most meetings, a persistent crackling overrides the audio feed, obscuring officials' voices. In addition, there was no audio at all at the March 4, 2025 meeting. 

During a discussion at Tuesday's meeting, Heather Zink, council president, noted that the minutes of the March 20, 2025 joint planning commission and borough council meeting were lacking detail. She suggested it wasn't possible get the information from the meeting livestream due to poor audio quality.  "We all know that that meeting, the audio was horrible," Zink said.

Yes, it was.

And so it continues. 

There's an old song that goes, "There's something happening here. What it is ain't exactly clear." 

Indeed.

Columbia Borough Council votes to demolish Franklin Street property

700 Franklin Street 

Columbia Borough Council voted unanimously Tuesday evening to approve the demolition of 700 Franklin Street, in addition to accessory structures remaining at the McGinness homestead site of 1020 Manor Street, to clear the way for a planned business park.

Council awarded the demolition contract to Farhat Excavating, LLC, which submitted the lowest bid of $52,780.00 among nine contractors competing for the project.

The decision comes after unsuccessful efforts to preserve the Franklin Street dwelling. In December 2024, the borough solicited bids for the sale and relocation of the 700 Franklin Street property, but received no offers, making demolition "the logical option to keep the project progressing forward," according to a borough executive brief.

C.S. Davidson, the engineering firm handling the bidding process, publicly advertised the demolition contract in LNP/LancasterOnline and opened bids via PennBid on April 17, 2025.

The complete list of bids received:

- Farhat Excavating, LLC: $52,780.00

- Tamco Construction Inc.: $57,180.00

- Pennell Services: $57,500.00

- Victory Gardens, Inc.: $59,939.50

- Ben Washington: $60,000.00

- Empire Demolition: $62,440.00

- SDL Construction LLC: $62,500.00

- Saway: $66,900.00

- A.T.O Excavating, Inc.: $78,750.00

UPDATE: Lancaster city woman drowned in Susquehanna River over the weekend: coroner | Local News | lancasteronline.com

A woman found dead in the Susquehanna River on Friday in West Hempfield Township was identified as April Wefler of Lancaster city, the Lancaster County Coroner's Office announced today. 

Wefler, 33, of the 100 block of South Queen Street, died of freshwater drowning, according to the coroner's office, which reported her body was found on the shoreline in West Hempfield Township between the Wrights Ferry and Veterans Memorial bridges.  

The coroner's office said Wefler was reported missing by her family Saturday. The coroner confirmed Wefler's identity via dental records.  

The coroner said the manner of death is still under investigation.  

West Hempfield police have not said if they are investigating the death and have not responded to requests for more information. 

https://lancasteronline.com/news/local/lancaster-city-woman-drowned-in-susquehanna-river-over-the-weekend-coroner/article_55678552-dd2d-4358-9072-14d8be8da369.html 

Finding Zen with Feline Friends: Cat Yoga Brings Joy to Columbia Animal Shelter

Kate Haldeman (left) does yoga with instructor Beverly Kelley at the Columbia Animal Shelter.

At 6:50 Monday evening, 14 enthusiastic people lined up at the Columbia Animal Shelter to participate in yoga.

Once inside, enthusiasts rolled out their mats as furry felines wandered through. Obviously, this isn't your typical yoga class—it's "Cat Yoga," a unique wellness experience where relaxation meets animal interaction.

A yoga practitioner is joined by a feline shelter resident.

The idea behind cat yoga is simple: Participants do yoga conducted alongside the shelter's resident cats. They can choose to practice in one of four spaces—the kitten room, female cat room, male cat room, or the lobby. 

Instructor Beverly Kelley typically guides the class through gentle stretches and positions, as shelter cats accompany participants. "We'll do a little yoga and a lot of playtime and loving on the cats and kittens while we're here - and hopefully an adoption or two," says Kelley. 

Rochelle "Rock" Gutierrez Meiskey joins instructor Beverly Kelley before class. 

Kelley had just gotten certified at the end of last May as a 200-hour certified yoga instructor. The program began last summer when she collaborated with Rochelle "Rock" Gutierrez Meiskey at Rock's CardioBox. (Columbia Spy posted a profile of Rock's classes HERE.)

The yoga program serves a dual purpose. While participants benefit from stress reduction and physical activity, the cats receive socialization. Proceeds from the sessions go directly toward supporting the shelter's operations.

Cat Yoga classes are held monthly at the Columbia Animal Shelter. 

Participants may not bring their own cats, to ensure the safety and comfort of shelter animals and attendees. Sessions are held one Monday a month at 6 p.m., with 15 spaces available. Sessions are $25 for 75 minutes. Registration is required. Go HERE for more information. 

Agenda - Columbia Borough Council Meeting - April 22, 2025