Expect lane restrictions and travel delays on Route 30 during daylight work hours.
Harrisburg, PA – The Pennsylvania Department of Transportation (PennDOT) announced today that upcoming inspections will be conducted on the Third Street (Route 3441) bridge over Route 30 in Columbia Borough, Lancaster County. Expect lane restrictions and travel delays on Route 30 during daylight work hours.
Weather permitting, work will be performed in the eastbound lanes of Route 30 under Third Street between mile markers 254.2 and 254.4 on Tuesday, October 13, from 9:00 AM until 2:00 PM.
Work will be performed in the westbound lanes of Route 30 under Third Street between mile markers 254.4 and 254.2 on Wednesday, October 14, from 9:00 AM until 2:00 PM.
JOE LINTNER | COLUMBIA SPY
Columbia Borough will have no updated zoning protections regarding data centers until at least November, it was noted at the October 6, 2026 council workshop. Council originally believed it would need to wait until December, until Code Manager Paula Diffenderfer revealed at the meeting that the proposed change had gone through. Council previously believed the proposed zoning change was not submitted to the Lancaster County Planning Commission in time for review.
The change, which the borough planning commission recommended for adoption on July 21, would alter the permitted uses for data centers. The proposal will now return to the borough to be advertised and adopted most likely in November.
Harrisburg is considering legislation that would let municipalities declare a moratorium while ordinances are updated. “If that passes, then we’ll be in a lot better shape,” Mayor Leo Lutz said.
Resident Kathy Embleton urged council to write the toughest ordinance possible. “I don’t see any reason why we shouldn’t enact the strictest data center ordinance that we are legally able to,” she said.
Embleton named building size as the most protective limit. West Hempfield caps data centers at 120,000 square feet, she said, and Drumore Township at 100,000. By comparison, a 700,000-square-foot facility is roughly the size of three Walmart Supercenters. “The smaller the data center, the less noise, water usage, electricity usage, pollution, and heat generated,” Embleton said, adding that the borough’s legal counsel, Evan Gabel, had indicated a size cap would be legal.
Embleton asked council to have Gabel review stricter provisions from other municipalities, noting that more model ordinances exist now than when council members Kelly Murphy and Heather Zink drafted Columbia’s version. She also proposed a thumbs-up or thumbs-down vote on each point at the next meeting, saying that at the first public meeting too few members spoke for the audience to know where council stood.
Sharon Lintner asked why the borough relisted the McGinness property before zoning was finalized, and whether that creates a loophole. Zink said it does not, since the borough still controls the property and would tell buyers the zoning is changing. She said a buyer would need substantial work already completed to claim grandfathered status, and a land development approval would take too long to finish ahead of the change. The second request for proposals also warned bidders of the coming zoning changes.
Council held a public meeting on the data center ordinance on September 24, 2026. A second public meeting on the data center ordinance has not been scheduled, but Council President Eric Kauffman said he would announce a date as soon as possible. Council hopes to cover the remainder of the draft then.
The next regular council meeting is Tuesday, October 13, at 7 p.m.
JOE LINTNER | COLUMBIA SPY
A borough resident told council that the newly repaved 100 and 200 blocks of Walnut Street cannot legally be enforced as one-way without a formal ordinance.
Mary Wickenheiser raised the issue during the October 6 Columbia Borough Workshop. (The two blocks were recently repaved and fitted with new sidewalks. The area is still technically a work zone, with crews finishing line painting and road markings.)
Wickenheiser asked whether the borough had ever adopted an ordinance converting the blocks from two-way to one-way traffic.
“That can’t be enforced without an ordinance,” Wickenheiser told council. She said she had checked the borough code earlier in the day. “It’s Article Seven, Section 207-48, and I’m not seeing any kind of amendment there indicating that those two blocks are now one-way headed west.”
Mayor Leo Lutz said council should talk to the borough solicitor (who was not present) to have the ordinance done.
JOE LINTNER | COLUMBIA SPY
The planned rehabilitation of the Veterans Memorial Bridge (Route 462) has been pushed back again, and Mayor Leo Lutz says the emergency plans developed for the closure need to be revived and updated “if and when” work begins.
Lutz briefed council on the project at the Columbia Borough Workshop on October 6. The rehabilitation was originally scheduled to start in 2027 but is now expected to begin in 2028. No reason was given for the delay.
Lutz said extensive planning had already taken place for the 2027 start, including emergency management plans meant to handle traffic and other problems on the Route 30 bridge while the Route 462 span is closed.
“There were a lot of meetings, a lot of plans, emergency management plans drawn up to handle whatever may come to pass out on the Route 30 bridge when the Route 462 bridge is shut,” Lutz said.
But those groups have not met in some time, and the new timeline has left the work in need of attention. “We haven’t met for quite some time, and now they bumped it back to 2028,” the mayor said. “And a lot of the people that were involved in that planning are not around, so those plans seriously need to be updated.”
Lutz said he plans to work with Jay Barninger (Emergency Management Coordinator) and to contact PennDOT and the project contractor to restart inter-agency discussions. The talks would include Lancaster County and York County emergency management officials.
Lutz expressed confidence in the existing groundwork, noting that Barninger remains involved. “I think we’re still pretty solid because Jay Barninger is still here, and our plans probably just need some updating,” he said. He acknowledged, however, that “there’s been a lot of changes made” to the overall project package.
Lutz suggested the planning group meet on a regular schedule, possibly quarterly, to keep the plans current as the project approaches. “’28 isn’t that far off,” he said. “So we need to keep that emergency plan up to date. So, if and when they ever shut that bridge down, we’re ready to go.”
No dates have been announced for the renewed planning meetings.
Two vehicles collided Saturday evening at the intersection of North 5th and Chestnut Streets in Columbia Borough.
The crash was reported at 7:14 p.m. Saturday, and police and fire personnel responded to find a gray Honda coupe and a white Subaru Forester nose-to-nose in the roadway, both with front-end damage. No injuries were reported.
Unlimited Towing transported both vehicles from the scene, which was cleared in about half an hour.
LANCASTER, Pa. —
More than a month after a patient fell from the sixth floor of Lancaster General Hospital, the family of 26-year-old Johnathan Leed is still seeking answers.
Family seeks answers after patient’s death
“They’re just beside themselves in grief. They’re very, very upset. We’re dealing with trauma. And the message that I’m receiving from them is it’s a tragedy that may have been prevented. And we just want answers,” said Attorney Thomas Kenny, who represents Leed’s family.
MORE:
https://www.wgal.com/article/family-seeks-answers-lancaster-general-hospital-fall/73934133
More photos are here: https://columbiapa-17512.blogspot.com/2026/09/about-town-september-27-2026.html?m=1
