Greater Harrisburg's Community Magazine

April News Digest

Road Plan Revealed

Harrisburg last month unveiled a plan to make major improvements to 6th, 7th and Division streets.

City Engineer Wayne Martin, along with consultant Craig Bachik, presented the results of a study to improve traffic flow and safety along those three major city arteries, a plan that includes adding traffic circles, building pedestrian bump-outs and increasing green space.

Martin said the plan was designed with pedestrians, bicyclists and motorists in mind, in that order.

The study was funded by a $27,000 grant from the Harrisburg Area Transportation Study, with an $8,000 matching grant from the Pennsylvania Higher Education Assistance Agency (PHEAA). It came about because PennDOT requested a study before the city proceeds with a plan to return N. 2nd Street to two-way traffic from Forster to Division streets, said Martin.

The proposed improvements include constructing a series of roundabouts at busy intersections, including at N. 7th and Division, N. 7th and Reily and on N. 6th Street in back of the Broad Street Market. Division Street would be redesigned as a boulevard, with a strip of green space in the middle of the road.

The proposal was created with input from “major impactors” along those roads, such as PHEAA, D&H Distributing and Vartan Group, said Bachik of New Cumberland-based Navarro & Wright Consulting Engineers. Neighborhood groups were not consulted, but the public will be able to have a say once the plan is presented to City Council this month, he said.

The improvements would cost about $30 million, said Martin, though the work likely would be done in pieces as transportation funding was secured.

Besides easing traffic, the improvements would help beautify the corridors, while boosting pedestrian safety, especially on N. 7th Street near PHEAA, said Martin.

 

 City Nominates 2 for CRW

City Council last month considered two city residents nominated by the Papenfuse administration to the board of Capital Region Water.

Garvey Presley Jr. and Charla J. Plaines appeared before council April 19 to discuss their qualifications to serve on the five-member board.

A confirmation vote was scheduled for April 27, after press time. If confirmed, Presley would fill one open seat while Plaines would fill a seat currently held by Bill Cluck.

Cluck, an environmental attorney whose five-year term expired in January 2015, urged council to think twice before replacing him, pointing to Capital Region Water’s financial turnaround and investment-grade bond rating under his tenure.

His plea seemed to find favor with some council members, such as Westburn Majors, who served with Cluck on the board before taking office this past January. “I think it would be a complete disservice if we don’t keep him,” Majors said.

Yet Mayor Eric Papenfuse, who is empowered to nominate board members with the advice and consent of council, said it was time to add fresh faces to the board to achieve greater diversity in membership and help with community outreach.

Plaines, a reentry coordinator at the Pennsylvania Commission on Crime and Delinquency, said she felt her skills were suited to making sure diverse voices in the community were more fully engaged in the authority’s decisions.

Presley, an equipment operator at the Derry Township wastewater treatment plant, said he had been interested in environmental work for most of his life and that his employment history made him a “natural fit” for the board.

 

Recovery Plan Brought to Vote

City Council scheduled a major vote on an updated Harrisburg recovery plan last month, setting the stage for the most comprehensive agreement to date on the mix of tax policies, personnel goals and government reforms needed to stabilize the city’s finances.

The state has asked the city to adopt the 115-page update in time for negotiations with its police and municipal employees unions, whose current labor contracts expire at the end of the calendar year.

An affirmative council vote would mark the first time the body has endorsed a comprehensive recovery plan, as opposed to the piecemeal votes for related legislation while the city was under state receivership in 2013.

The updated plan would count on increased revenue from a local services tax hike affecting residents and commuters and would have the city weigh a home rule charter initiative that could make recent earned income tax hikes permanent.

It would also direct a greater portion of any money recovered in lawsuits over incinerator-related borrowings to paying down the city’s current debt load.

The vote was scheduled for April 27, after press time. But Fred Reddig, the city’s coordinator under Act 47, said he was “optimistic that the plan is going to move forward” and that his team would be able to take it to court for approval.

 

Demolitions Begin

Harrisburg began razing condemned houses last month, vowing to accelerate the pace of demolitions.

The city is on pace to remove about 30 blighted structures this year, far more than in recent years due to a beefed-up sanitation staff. In past years, demolitions were often delayed as workers were pulled off jobs to assist in trash pickup.

Most demolitions are slated for properties in the Allison Hill and Uptown neighborhoods. In all, Harrisburg has several hundred condemned properties.

 

March Home Sales

The spring real estate market was off to a solid start in March, as sales ticked up compared to last year.

Regionally, sales totaled 647 units in March, 10 more than in the year-ago period, according to the Greater Harrisburg Association of Realtors (GHAR). The median price was down slightly to $155,000, but average days on the market plummeted to 86 from 106 last year.

Sales rose to 233 units from 202 on a year-over-year basis in Dauphin County. They fell slightly in Cumberland and Perry counties.

The median sales price in Dauphin County fell a bit compared to last March, to $136,000 from $139,000, though rose by about $5,000 per unit in both Cumberland and Perry counties, to $179,950 and $139,950, respectively, said GHAR.

 

So Noted

Harrisburg last month was awarded a $155,522 federal grant to help reduce crime in the Camp Curtin neighborhood. The Byrne Criminal Justice Innovation Grant will allow the city and several community partners to launch an initiative to lessen crime as part of a larger revitalization effort in the area, according to Tri County Community Action.

Harrisburg Area YMCA has purchased the historic Millers Mutual Group building at Forster and Front streets for $750,000. The Y made the purchase mostly to acquire land for more parking for the East Shore Y next door, but also plans to move its headquarters into the building, according to a joint press release. Millers Mutual stated that it will lease back the building from the Y until it can relocate to larger offices.

Park Harrisburg began booting vehicles last month to better enforce parking penalties on motorists with three or more outstanding warrants. The parking operator long planned to start a booting program, but was delayed until it could develop technology that would allow it to access city parking records, said the company.

Journal Multimedia, a homegrown, Harrisburg-based company that publishes the Central Penn Business Journal, was purchased last month by industry behemoth GateHouse Media, the owner of hundreds of daily, weekly and specialty newspapers. In addition to its flagship publication, Journal Multimedia publishes Central Penn Parent, Lehigh Valley Business and several other titles. It also has related custom publishing and events businesses.

 

Changing Hands

Briggs St., 225: S. & C. Aichele to B. Brock, $179,500

Brookwood St., 2619: R. Santangelo to B. Sweger, $57,500

Derry St., 1323 & 1325: U. Patel to T. & K. Yameogo, $85,000

Duke St., 2435: J. Smith to F. Zeray, $45,000

Fulton St., 1738: Secretary of Housing & Urban Development & Information Systems Network Corp. to PA Deals LLC, $65,250

Green St., 1925: W. Gonzalez to B. & A. Christensen, $216,500

Green St., 2416: F. Seidlich to J. & P. Manjon, $150,000

Green St., 3113: C. & B. Stone to B. Baker, $159,900

Green St., 3121: J. Meadowa to 8219 Ventures, $70,000

Logan St., 1619: L. Blanton & R. Parr to C. Grim, $89,000

Manada St., 1924: B. Vazquez to P. & T. O’Connell, $36,000

Market St., 1912: Secretary of Housing & Urban Development to Rogue Enterprises, $36,500

N. 2nd St., 2215: V. & J. Books to T. & J. Whye, $229,500

N. 2nd St., 2615: Secretary of Housing & Urban Development to TBF Properties LLC, $75,000

N. 2nd St., 2842: Arthur A. Kusic Real Estate Investments to T. Cook, $60,000

N. 3rd St., 3005: D. Bartolet to G. Dutson, $40,000

N. 4th St., 3015: D. Travitz to F. Gresson, $86,000

N. 5th St., 1738: CNC Realty Group to M. Meads, $85,000

N. 6th St., 3138: M. Naranjo to J. Crossett & M. Hochstetler, $50,000

N. 15th St., 1328: L. Mitchell to A. Rodriguez, $38,000

N. Front St., 805: Millers Capital Insurance Co. to Harrisburg Area YMCA, $750,000

N. Front St., 1013: M. Santalucia to B. Rota, $148,000

N. Front St., 1525, Unit 206: J. Feather to C. Wilson & K. Thompson, $85,000

N. Front St., 1525, Unit 604: Riverview Manor Association LP & Brickbox Enterprises Ltd. To D. Baker, $230,000

Paxton St., 1000: Sutliff Enterprises & K. Damitha to PinnacleHealth System, $3,600,000

Rose St., 933: F. Clark to GKX LLC, $235,000

Showers St., 581: R. Ross to M. Terry, $97,000

Showers St., 624: K. Hood to K. Kearn, $86,000

S. 13th St., 243: E. & A. Martinez to N. Srayi, $32,000

S. 18th St., 1117: Vanderbilt Mortgage & Finance Inc. to J. Frias, $30,535

S. 29th St., 630: P. Over to J. Guzman, $46,600

State St., 124: C. Smith to TKP Investments LLC, $175,000

State St., 1520: Federal National Mortgage Association to A. Moore, $31,000

Susquehanna St., 2136: Secretary of Housing & Urban Development to L. Marrazzo, $31,125

Swatara St., 2142: G. & J. Trump to R. Chowdhury & A. Nasrin, $49,500

Verbeke St., 232: K. Bentzel to Afterkey Property Solutions LLC, $60,000

Wyeth St., 1406: PA Deals LLC to J. & Y. Oskam, $113,900

Harrisburg property sales for March 2016, greater than $30,000. Source: Dauphin County. Data is assumed to be accurate.

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