Columbia Spy

https://lancaster.crimewatchpa.com/columbiapd/10552/post/columbia-borough-police-will-enforce-fireworks-laws-2

John C. Weaver conveyed 523 Locust St. to Cotton Gracey III, Gouse Daniel R. for $260,000.

Wolf John A. Jr., Wolf Michelle A. conveyed 695 Cherry St. to Proverb Realty LLC for $95,000.

 This week’s photos of Columbia 

Click on photos to see larger, sharper images. 

Congratulations CHS Class of 2025!

(This billboard is out near Burger King.)

St. Paul’s Evangelical Lutheran Church

This garage has its own bell tower and bell.

This car is for sale.

Punch at JK Mart seems to have been punched.

Palestine will be free!

An appropriate car for the cemetery

Left behind 

Remnants of the car show

Columbia Presbyterian 

A line at the post office

Something’s growing in abundance under the grate at the post office parking lot.

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But the sign says No Parking.

What you can see of the sign, that is.

This office building on Linden Street is available for lease. 

Towmotors at Tollbooth 

Mini greenhouses 

Norfolk Southern should clean up their mess.

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Someone was doing donuts.

This tree stump on Union Street is attracting its own pile of junk.

Either the hydrant is sinking, or the sidewalk is rising.

Welcome to the jungle, it gets worse here every day.

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Beyond the street sign, roofers are working.

They were working at the former Keystone Fire Company building for a couple of days when temps were in the 90s.

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Saturday evening clouds 

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Todd Stahl captured these scenes on and around the Veterans Memorial Bridge the other day durung the heat wave. The temperature was 97° . . .

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American Legion No. 372, 329 Chestnut St., Columbia, June 17. Pass. Burgers are served undercooked to the customer’s request; however, a written consumer advisory on the menu is not provided to the consumer.

Rocky’s BBQ, 28 N. Third St., Columbia, June 17. Pass. No violations.

Lancaster and several other central Pennsylvania counties will be under a flood watch beginning at 3 p.m. today as weather forecasts call for severe thunderstorms.

The National Weather Service said the flood watch will be in effect through midnight Friday.

Slow-moving thunderstorms could result in up to 4 inches of rain, leading to flooding in rivers, creeks, streams, and other low-lying and flood-prone areas, according to the NWS. Flooding also may occur in poor drainage and urban areas.

Other counties affected by the flood watch include Adams, Columbia, Cumberland, Dauphin, Juniata, Lebanon, Montour, Northern Lycoming, Northumberland, Perry, Schuylkill, Snyder, Southern Lycoming, Sullivan, Tioga, Union, and York.

Showers and thunderstorms are likely, mainly after 5 p.m., according to the NWS, which said some of the storms could be severe. AccuWeather said storms could bring flooding downpours and localized damaging wind gusts.

https://lancasteronline.com/news/local/flood-watch-issued-for-lancaster-county-as-meteorologists-call-for-severe-thunderstorms/article_6a1803ee-c1da-49a3-bd69-fe62d1cc9c99.html

https://www.abc27.com/local-news/troopers-led-on-high-speed-chase-in-stolen-vehicle-two-lancaster-county-teens-charged/#amp_tf=From%20%251%24s&aoh=17509325306041&referrer=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.google.com&ampshare=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.abc27.com%2Flocal-news%2Ftroopers-led-on-high-speed-chase-in-stolen-vehicle-two-lancaster-county-teens-charged%2F

At Tuesday night’s meeting, Columbia Borough Council awarded a $2.2 million contract for soil stabilization at the former McGinness airport to Iron Eagle Excavating in Lancaster. The company submitted the low bid of $2,196,104.60, which was significantly lower than the original estimated cost of $3.03 million for the project. Diamond Materials LLC submitted the high bid of $5,136,442.00. Bids from five companies were received.

Bid Tabulation

Council President Heather Zink said the borough will be responsible for paying back only about $1.2 million of the cost, because $880,000 is covered by a BIOS (Business in Our Sites) grant.

Soil stabilization represents Phase 1 of development, aimed at bringing the site to “pad-ready” condition. The work will focus on removing problematic materials from the ground to ensure a clean foundation. Engineer Derek Rinaldo said there is a substantial completion date of November 15. “It’s a 120-day contract and we will be issuing notice to proceed on July 17th,” Rinaldo told council.

Borough Manager Steven Kaufhold said officials will hold a public meeting at the Columbia Fire Department building at 10th & Manor as the project gets underway. “Within the first two weeks of July, we’re going to have a meeting with all the residents,” Kaufhold said.

Background

The McGinness Innovation Park design team, which includes ELA Group, ECS, and Rick Breneman, recently secured the National Pollutant Discharge Elimination System (NPDES) permit approval necessary to begin the soil preparation work. Engineering firm C.S. Davidson prepared the project specifications and managed the bidding process.

Engineering assessments have found issues at the site, according to Jason Best of ELA Group and Derek Rinaldo, the borough’s engineer who has overseen the project since its inception. During the February 25, 2025 council meeting, Best described the scope of the problem as including “deleterious materials, including whatever junk was buried through the course of all the flattening for the runways years and years ago.” According to a borough legal notice published in LNP/LancasterOnline (10/13/22), “the site has been found to be contaminated with metals which has contaminated soil on the site.”

According to Rinaldo, the southern runway was built with improperly compacted fill material that was “just dumped,” creating what he characterized as “fluffy soil” with compaction levels that are “all over the place.”

Remediation will involve stabilizing the ground to support future buildings through a multi-step process. Teams will sift contaminated areas to remove materials that don’t belong in the soil, while buried organic matter such as trees will be chipped on-site rather than transported elsewhere. [Note: Officials have been using the terms “stabilization” and “remediation” interchangeably.]

The future of the project

The future of the park project is in question, however, since council is still unsure what it wants to do with the property when remediation is completed. At the February 25 meeting, council discussed selling the property immediately after remediation, though doing so could present complications due to the BIOS grant and loan the borough obtained, as Columbia Spy reported HERE.

Once remediation is completed, the borough may move forward with obtaining permits for infrastructure. Zink said officials will work on site development plans over the winter. “Who knows what a developer will want to locate there,” Zink remarked.

Mayor Leo Lutz advised selling the property as a blank slate, before any infrastructure is placed there. “Sell ‘em a blank slate. Put the shingle out, and sell it,” Lutz said.

Council hires project manager for an additional $50,000

Also at Tuesday’s meeting, council approved the hiring of Rick Breneman of Breneman Site Construction to oversee the stabilization project. Breneman has been a member of the McGinness design team since the beginning.

In a letter to Columbia Borough Manager Steven Kaufhold, Breneman provided an estimate of services at $125/ hour, for a total cost of $50,250, as shown below:

Columbia Borough has voted to award a $116,000 electrical contract to Delaware Environmental Construction Services (DECS) for the Makle Park Phase 1 improvements project, following initial concerns about the contractor. The electric contract attracted three bids, with DECS submitting the low bid of $116,000. 

The contract is the second of two for Makle Park Phase 1. Council voted to award the first contract, for site improvements, to H&P Construction on June 10, 2025. H&P submitted a base bid of $272,224.13, emerging as the lowest bidder among five companies, as Columbia Spy reported HERE.

The contract awards are part of a larger $538,224 investment in Makle Park improvements for fiscal year 2025. The project benefits from substantial grant funding.

The improvements are being funded through the Makle Park Improvements account, which currently maintains a balance of $597,875. After this expenditure, approximately $59,651 will remain in the account.

Bids for the project were received on May 30, 2025. YSM Landscape Architects initially expressed concerns about DECS’s low bid in a letter dated June 10, 2025, which led to an additional vetting process.

However, in a recommendation letter dated June 19, 2025, YSM reported that most of DECS’s references related to site work rather than electrical projects. The electrical work references centered on Daryn Grice, who will serve as project manager for the Makle Park contract.

“Through phone calls and documents submitted with the bid, we understand Daryn Grice of DECS will be the project manager for the project,” YSM stated in their letter to Columbia Borough Manager Steven Kaufhold.

Additional reference checks by YSM revealed one unfavorable reference, but the other contacts gave “very positive” feedback about both Grice and DECS’s capabilities.

Moving forward, YSM will issue a Notice of Award to Delaware Environmental Construction Services and request the necessary performance and payment bonds and insurance certificates.

 This week’s photos of Columbia 

Click on photos to see larger, sharper images. 

Here are some more photos of Friday’s HazMat incident in the 400 block of Avenue H. Units staged in and around the first block of North 4th Street. Reportedly, dry cleaning chemicals leaked from a dumpster in the vicinity of the former Eichhorn’s building (rear).

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Evening clouds 

On Thursday, the National Watch & Clock Museum held an open house for members, some of whom came from out of state.

Boat trailer parking only

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This truck transports both kinds of water: swimming pool and bulk.

A patriotic truck 

A tempest in a birdbath?

The water company at work on South 3rd. 

A foggy morning 

Fireworks coming up – and don’t forget that weight limit. 

Wheels at Tollbooth 

Parking violation 

Getting higher

There was more rain this week. Well, of course there was.

Columbia: a Transportation Hub

Tree removal began Wednesday morning at the site of a new Habitat for Humanity project, signaling the beginning of construction of five townhomes at North 4th and Linden Streets.

A baby snapper at River Park Sunday morning 

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**Incident Summary:**

– **Location:** 400 block of Avenue H

– **Time:** Friday at 12:05 p.m.

– **Cause:** Reportedly, dry cleaning chemicals spilled from the vicinity of the former Eichhorn’s building (rear)

– **Response:** Hazmat team called to handle cleanup

– **Traffic Impact:** 400 block of Avenue H closed to through traffic, first block of North 4th Street partially blocked.