Author: SPY

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Construction at Starview Brews, 224 Locust Street, is expected to begin in mid-September. The brew pub hopes to open in December or January.

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Questions about regulations for the borough’s public parking lots were raised but not fully answered at the August Public Property & Public Works Committee meeting.

A resident told the committee that his car was ticketed recently when it was parked in the public parking lot at the bottom of Locust Street, even though it was registered, insured, and inspected. He also said two vehicles belonging to a neighbor were towed from the lot. He said his vehicle was ticketed for violation of the so-called “48-hour rule” regulating parking in the borough, although there is no sign posted with regulations for the lot. He said he regularly parks there to allow neighbors curbside parking and has done so for years, and was surprised at being ticketed. “There’s no precedent for it. None,” he said. Currently, there is no borough ordinance regulating parking in public lots but there is one regulating parking on highways and streets. That ordinance states, in part:

“No vehicle, including boat trailers, camp trailers and any like devices, shall be allowed to remain parked on any Borough highway or street for a period longer than 48 consecutive hours. Moreover, when such a vehicle is moved, it shall be moved no less a distance than twice its own length.”

The public parking lot at the bottom of Locust Street

Committee members and officials could not definitively state that the ordinance covers parking lots, and Mayor Leo Lutz said a sign needs to be posted at the Locust Street lot. Borough Manager Rebecca Denlinger said the ordinance and signage need to be looked at, also.

When questioned about parking at Columbia River Park, Lutz said the 48-hour rule does not apply there for vehicles with boat trailers, because those vehicles are used in conjunction with the boat ramp and the park is regulated by and was paid for (in part) by the Pennsylvania Fish and Boat Commission. “They can come from West Podunk and park there every week and no problem,” he said. Boaters who camp on the river islands leave vehicles with trailers in an assigned, or “restricted,” area for days and even weeks at a time without being ticketed. However, vehicles without trailers that are parked in the restricted area are routinely ticketed by borough officers. It is unclear why officers are authorized to ticket, if Fish and Boat Commission regulations apply there, as Lutz has suggested. There is, however, a borough ordinance that may grant the borough that authority. It states, in part:

“…parking zones or parking places for the exclusive use by vehicles with trailers only at the parking areas designated for the River Park in the Borough of Columbia as said property is described in an agreement by and between the Borough of Columbia and the Pennsylvania Fish Commission dated September 9, 1968, and no vehicle, other than a vehicle with a trailer, shall at any time be parked at such space so designated. “

Columbia River Park. The parking area shown above is for vehicles with boat trailers only, from Memorial Day to Labor Day.

After Labor Day, any vehicle may park in the restricted area, not just vehicles with trailers. It is unclear if those vehicles will be governed by the 48-hour rule and be ticketed. At any rate, the borough contradicts its ordinance by relaxing the parking restrictions, since the ordinance states: “no vehicle, other than a vehicle with a trailer, shall at any time be parked at such space so designated.”

Water from an underground spring is creating headaches for residents and borough officials alike, according to a discussion at the August Public Works & Property Committee meeting. Currently, water is continually being pumped from a property at 11th Street and Grinnell Avenue onto those streets. Water empties from a sump pump outlet pipe onto 11th, then trickles around the corner to Grinnell Avenue, where it flows and spreads out, covering part of the street. According to Mayor Lutz, neighbors have complained about the ever-present water, and some claim to have slipped on it. Public Works Director Ron Miller said that the street was recently so slippery due to algae in the water that the highway department had to power wash it. Lutz said the source of the water is a spring under the house.

According to Miller, the issue was originally a dilemma for the borough, since the source of the water is on private property. He said the borough can act, however, because of the resulting conditions created on a public street. Miller proposes installing an inlet at the intersection and adding a 10-inch pipe along a four- to five-foot wide grass strip running next to the sidewalk on Grinnell Avenue. The pipe would then connect to an existing inlet at 10th Street. Residents whose properties abut the sidewalk would first need to allow an easement. The project – if all goes well – will be completed before cold weather sets in and the water freezes. Miller said costs can be kept under $10,000 so that the borough manager can approve the project without sending it to council. The project would likely be contracted out due to the department’s already heavy workload.

The citizen comment section of the August borough council meeting was raw with criticism of the way slumlords and criminal activity are being dealt with in the borough. Walnut Street resident Nick Meley suggested a new motto for Columbia: “We can’t do anything about it,” saying that’s the answer he has heard over the past 20-25 years. Meley likened slumlords to a disease, saying the borough “can’t put band-aids on this cancer.” He told council that one landlord owns 11 properties in one block, each with peeling paint, rotting wood, and weeds. Meley came to the meeting with a solution: Regulate the slumlords.

Meley suggested implementing a progressive surtax on non-resident multiple property owners or progressive licensing, and a “three-strike procedure” for code violations. “Nothing is being done about the real problem,” he said. “Make the landlord responsible for the violations, and not the tenants.” Meley said he was assaulted in the borough and blamed several factors, notably the fact that “the thugs, the lowlife, the Section 8 tenants know that this town is that kind of place. They congregate here,” he said.

Meley noted the previous month’s council meeting in which he cited a Michigan township that banned Section 8 and restricted the number of rentals. He said the borough solicitor at the meeting admitted he didn’t know what they do in Michigan. “He seemed pretty proud of his ignorance,” Meley said. Meley asked what specific statutes prevent council from passing such legislation. Solicitor Barry Handwerger did not answer directly, merely saying that he does not give legal advice without researching the issue.

Meley said that although the renovated library, the trail, and the Columbia Crossing were positives, “It borders on delusional to think that new businesses and new residents are going to come to this town because of a renovated library when the streets are like they are.”

Shirley McBride of Perry Street echoed many of Meley’s points. She said that when she called the borough about slumlords and trouble on her block, she experienced retaliation: Her car was keyed and her house was egged. “I was threatened. Welcome to my world,” she said, noting she has lived in Columbia for 54 years. “This is a nightmare.”

She said neighbors scream at two and three in the morning and she was told nothing could be done. “I thought we had a three strikes you’re out,” she said. “I live in fear.” She said her neighborhood is going downhill and compared it to Detroit or Chicago. “Drugs are just rampant in this town,” she said. “It’s up to you to do something about it. We let this go too long, and now you’ve got a crisis on your hands. I would not in any circumstances tell someone to move to Columbia because of the slum landlords.”

McBride pleaded with council to regulate slumlords. “Please, please, please, please, I’m begging you, do something with the slum landlords. You know who they are. You hear it, and I’ll bet you there isn’t one person in this borough that can’t tell you who they are.”

Frank Doutrich of Ironville Pike recommended having a police dog in place in the borough “to let the thugs know.” He told council that his house was recently broken into and money was taken. Doutrich has often publicly emphasized the need for a police dog, an assertion the mayor continues to reject. Several months ago, Doutrich hung a banner at his North Ninth Street property, which reads: “FIGHT CRIME AND DRUGS WITH POLICE DOGS!”

[Columbia Spy will continue to post relevant citizen comments.  The borough has not posted citizen comments consistently since October 2017. In addition, the borough still has not posted minutes of the July 2018 borough council meeting, as of today’s date.]

Five members of the Columbia Borough Fire Department stood by with one of its engines at the Willow Street Fire Company this morning due to Willow Street’s recent loss of Fire Chief Mike Reese. Reese, 53, passed away suddenly at home on August 23 after responding to an auto accident that morning. CBFD covered from 12 to 6 a.m. with no calls and was relieved by the Blue Rock Fire Department. Numerous departments are stepping up and taking turns every six hours.