Emergency crews responded to a 3-vehicle accident, class 2, on the 100 block of South 4th street shortly after 4:30 this afternoon. One of the vehicles, a pickup truck, had been pushed onto the sidewalk.
3-vehicle accident on S. 4th Street
Year: 2018
Borough mulls funding $4 million parking garage related to hotel project
The proposed parking garage will be built separately from the planned “chip factory hotel” at 12 North Second Street and will require an updated design for the hotel.
Attendees at this week’s finance committee meeting received a last-minute revised agenda that packed a surprise: The borough is looking at funding a $4 million parking garage in downtown Columbia related to, but not dependent on, a hotel project already in the works. (Columbia Spy posted a press release about the hotel project HERE.) The proposal was presented as an attached one-page (plus two-line) “Project Description,” which is a summary of the planned project, as shown below. [Editor’s note: Some of the information contained in the summary differs from that which was discussed at the meeting.]
“Project Description
Columbia PA Hotel/ Public Parking Garage Project”
Under the proposal, the borough would plan and construct a four-story parking garage behind the former Becker Potato Chip factory at 12 North Second Street that Cimarron Investments LLC is redeveloping into a 60-room hotel/restaurant. The garage will contain 100 paid parking spaces, 60 of which would be reserved for hotel patrons, i.e., one per room. The remainder will be available for public use. The hotel building would contain elevator access to the garage, and parking would be overseen by some sort of management entity, such as a parking authority.
At the meeting, Cimarron CEO Don Murphy presented a tax map overlay and updated design for the project, showing how the garage would be built on a parcel behind the hotel. (The original plan was for hotel rooms to be built over a parking area.) The parcel, which is currently owned by Cimarron, would be conveyed to the borough.
Garage construction would be funded through a Redevelopment Assistance Capital Program 1:1 matching grant. According to pa.gov: “The Redevelopment Assistance Capital Program (RACP) is a Commonwealth grant program administered by the Office of the Budget for the acquisition and construction of regional economic, cultural, civic, recreational, and historical improvement projects.” If a $4 million RACP grant is approved by the state, the borough will pay half the cost of the garage: $2 million. [Editor’s note: The $4 million figure was quoted by borough manager Rebecca Denlinger at the meeting and differs from the $3.5 million presented in the summary. Denlinger told the committee that she uses a $25,000 to $30,000 per parking space to estimate the cost of a parking structure. Using those factors, however, the product does not equal $4 million.]
Murphy said the borough’s funding of the garage would make the hotel project more feasible for Cimarron, because the company would not be required to abide by prevailing wage laws (and would obviously be spared from funding, maintaining, and managing the garage). If the RACP application is denied, a combined hotel and garage project could still be completed but on a smaller scale, with parking available for hotel patrons only, according to Murphy.
Denlinger noted two other mechanisms available to bring funding to the project: a Keystone Opportunity Zone (KOZ) designation and a Qualified Opportunity Zone designation. According to Denlinger, the KOZ issue is currently before the state legislature, and the borough should know by year’s end whether it will be approved. According to pa.gov: “Keystone Opportunity Zones eliminate specific state and local taxes within specific underdeveloped and underutilized areas.” A Qualified Opportunity Zone designation has already been approved, however. Denlinger said that quite a large area of Columbia has already received this federal designation, including the block where the hotel site is located. irs.gov states: “An Opportunity Zone is an economically-distressed community where new investments, under certain conditions, may be eligible for preferential tax treatment.”
The finance committee voted to move forward with the next step of the RACP process to fund not only the hotel project but also a semi-defined project for the market house. If this second step is approved, the state will invite Columbia Borough to make a final, more detailed, application, at which time, the borough will be required to commit taxpayer funds.
Last spring, the borough briefly considered granting Cimarron $650,000 to help fund the hotel project until it was found that doing so would be unfeasible and illegal. Former borough manager Norm Meiskey and several citizens spoke out against the intended grant at the June Columbia Borough Council meeting. Columbia Spy posted related articles HERE and HERE.
Meet Tommy and Jager at the Library Monday, October 29
Halloween parade photos – October 25, 2018
Despite technical difficulties with a stubborn flash unit, here are some photos from Thursday night’s parade (mostly – but not necessarily – in order):
Parade grand marshals Vinnie and Mary Wickenheiser.
The ear-splitting calliope.
(Turn your speakers down!)
This character was hanging out after the parade.
And as a bonus, here are a few submitted parade pics from Manor Street:
Police-involved Incident on Plane Street
A police-involved incident was in progress around noon today in the vicinity of Plane Street, Avenue W, and Yohe Avenue. Several departments responded, including Columbia Borough, West Hempfield Township, and the Lancaster County Special Emergency Response Team (SERT). Columbia Spy observed a SERT negotiator on scene. No other details are available at this time.
Halloween Parade – 7 p.m., Thursday, October 25
Chief Brommer and Sergeant Jacobs posted NO PARKING notices along Locust Street this afternoon in preparation for tomorrow evening’s Mardi Gras Parade. The theme this year is “Story Time.” The parade starts at 7 p.m.
According to a Columbia Borough Police posting:
The 2018 Mardi Gras Halloween Parade will commence in Columbia on Thursday, October 25, 2018 at 7:00 pm. Just a friendly reminder that there will be “No Parking” from the 200 Block of Locust Street all the way to Sixth Street from 6:00 pm until until 10:00 pm. The Parade route was shared a couple days ago. It will start on Manor Street at the Columbia Fire Company and continue down Manor Street to S. Fourth Street and turn west at Union Street to S. Second Street. They will then go down to S. Second Street and turn north and proceed to Locust Street where they will turn right and head east on Locust Street to Sixth Street. Spectators are asked to stay out of the streets and out of harms way. Enjoy the Parade and let’s hope for great weather.
Agenda – Planning Commission Meeting, October 23, 2018
Draft Agenda – Finance Committee Meeting, October 22, 2018
The 107-page Finance Packet can be accessed HERE.
About Town
This week’s photos from around Columbia:
Clowning at Tacos to Go
Skullduggery, too
And here’s an emaciated devil dog.
Alas, poor Yorick!
Never dance with a creepy clown in the pale moonlight.
This is what happens when you smoke that devil drug – marijuana.
Even this Jack O’Lantern is fully lit.
Looks like someone wanted to park – sign be damned.
Multi-unit birdhouse –
Well, at least one apartment building got built in town.
(North 4th)
Glinda the Good Witch?
(North 4th)
Abandoned skull in Avenue G
Permit for a retail pharmacy?
Apparently, this is for sale.
(South 4th Street)
Sticker shock
(North 3rd)
Gallery on 4th – now with more gourds
Magical Mystery Tour?
(South 3rd)
Digging things up at Columbia Crossing
A trench, in fact
A former councilman called the building, “The gift that’ll keep on taking.”
Many-gloried street signs glorified
When Lowe’s is all out of stockade fence
An alternative to those outrageous Comcast bills
At the gazebo in Locust Street Park
And there it is.
Meanwhile, on South 2nd – painted flags – literally on South 2nd
Must be some sort of revisionist history – two original colonies and no states?!
And here, complete with sticker, is a cardinal-shaped birdhouse, big enough to terrify any bird in sight.
Shadow company?
Getting their “S” in gear
That’s small change these days (but nonetheless acceptable)
Alligatoring in Avenue E
That’s strange – This sidewalk on Poplar Street ends here, skips over two front yards, then continues further up the street.
And here it just kind of . . ends.
On the other side of the street it ends but continues at the last house in the block – at the intersection of 5th and Poplar. So, if you walk over the front of someone’s lawn to avoid walking in the street, can you be cited for trespassing?
Three flats; therefore, it’s in E-flat major
But can you live on a hedge that lives in a hedge?
Let’s hope he plugged the meter . . . because – see next photo.
There’s the reason.
Too bad he didn’t nail this one.
Holy smoke?
Clean it up!
Pumpkin tree
(Manor Street)
Tree down on the unpaved section of Heritage Drive, most likely due to last night’s horrific winds
Work in progress
Artist at work
Another work in progress
Still another work in progress
Yet another work in progress
And a few submitted photos . . .
Street sweeper barely bypassing that nasty, unattended ditch on the 300 block of South 2nd
There it is – naked in the daylight.
And finally – the former Embassy Hotel – apparently after a fire
Man and juvenile arrested in connection with vehicle reported stolen in Columbia
Jose Luis Tavares
On 10-20-18 the Columbia Borough Police arrested Jose Tavares (23) of Columbia for Receiving Stolen Property. Tavares had been operating a vehicle that had been reported stolen to the Columbia Borough Police on 10-19-18. Tavares was taken to central booking on 10-20-18.
A 15 year old male from Columbia is also being charged for crimes related to this incident.
This case is still under investigation and more information may be released at a later date. Please remember to keep valuables out of site and to lock the doors to your vehicle. If you a vehicle that was entered give us a call to make a report.
Arrest Date:
Saturday, October 20, 2018
Case Number:
22182-10-19-18
Columbia Spy 