Tag Archives: DeHart

May News Digest

Local Tax Raised
People soon will pay more to work in Harrisburg, as City Council has tripled the local services tax.

By a 5-1 margin, council voted to hike the LST from $1 to $3 per week. Only Councilwoman Shamaine Daniels opposed the measure.

Tax withholding will begin on July 1. However, for 2016, workers will actually pay $5 per week to make up for lost revenue back to the effective date of Jan. 1.

People who work in Harrisburg now will pay a local tax of $156 a year if they earn more than $24,500. Commuters vastly outnumber resident workers in Harrisburg, so the majority of income raised from the tax will come from people who live outside the city.

The LST hike coincided with several other tweaks to Harrisburg’s financial recovery plan. Most notably, the amended plan suggests that the city could consider adopting a Home Rule charter, which would give it more taxing options once it exits the state’s Act 47 program for financially distressed cities. However, council would have to pass another ordinance before initiating the Home Rule process.

 

Treasurer Resigns
Harrisburg will need to find another new treasurer, as Tyrell Spradley resigned last month after just 18 months in office.

City Council now must determine how to replace Spradley. For past vacancies, council members interviewed applicants, nominated their preferred candidates and chose among the finalists.

The treasurer’s office has been a revolving door since September 2014, when elected Treasurer John Campbell resigned after being charged with stealing money from two nonprofit groups. Two months later, Spradley was appointed, but only after council’s first choice withdrew his name from contention. Spradley was elected in his own right last year.

City treasurer is a part-time position that pays $20,000 per year. Deputy Treasurer Celia Spicher runs the office on a day-to-day basis.

 

New Archives Building
A new state Archives building soon will take shape on long-empty land along the 6th Street corridor, the state announced.

The building will occupy a three-acre site along N. 6th Street flanked by Harris and Hamilton streets. The $24 million project will occupy almost three complete city blocks, with half of the site backing to N. 7th Street.

Design is expected to begin soon, followed by a two-year construction phase that should be completed in 2019, said Howard Pollman, director of external affairs for the Pennsylvania Historical and Museum Commission.

The commission has been searching for a site for a new building for several years, as the Archives’ current home—a 20-story tower built in the mid-1960s at the Capitol complex—is bursting from more than 450 million documents.

“The building we have here is full,” Pollman said. “We also have issues with environmental concerns.”

The commission will retain and repurpose the tower, perhaps for collection storage, said Pollman.

  

Reed Counts Dismissed
A judge last month dismissed 305 criminal counts against former Harrisburg Mayor Steve Reed, saying the alleged crimes occurred too long ago.

The alleged acts, pertaining to Reed’s tenure as mayor, were outside the statute of limitations, according to presiding Judge Kevin A. Hess.

Hess let stand another 144 counts, mostly pertaining to allegations that Reed stole and kept city-funded artifacts. The state last year confiscated many historical artifacts from Reed’s home and at a nearby storage site, but the former mayor said they legally belonged to him.

The attorney general’s office could appeal the ruling.

  

Restaurant, Shops for Strawberry Square
A new restaurant and a new gift shop soon will open in downtown Harrisburg, among a flurry of business activity in Strawberry Square.

A 60-seat eatery is slated to open in early fall near the 3rd Street entrance in a long-empty space once occupied by a bank branch. It’s the latest concept of restaurateur Juan Garcia, who owns El Sol and La Noche. The 2,000-square-foot restaurant will offer a variety of salads, soups, wraps and other healthy options, said Brad Jones, CEO of Harristown Enterprises, which owns Strawberry Square.

Inside the Square, Harristown has signed a replacement for Strawberry Patch, the Hallmark store that shut down in January after 35 years in business. By July, owner Shekhar Shah will open Strawberry Gifts, a 4,000-square-foot Hallmark store in the same space as the previous shop, said Jones.

In other retail news, AMMA JO, a fashion and lifestyle boutique, is expanding into space directly next to her original location, said owner Amma Johnson. Johnson will take another 1,200 square feet, extending her product line, as well.

Another specialty retailer, Ideas and Objects, is making an adjustment. Jones said that the long-time retailer will relocate from an interior location to 11 N. 3rd St., a smaller space with street access.

 

DeHart Deal Approved
The Capital Region Water board of directors has unanimously approved an agreement to conserve its 8,200-acre DeHart property in partnership with the Ward Burton Wildlife Foundation, The Nature Conservancy and Fort Indiantown Gap.

DeHart, located in northern Dauphin County, is the primary source of drinking water for Capital Region Water’s 60,000-plus customers. The property includes the 5-mile long, 6-billion gallon DeHart Reservoir and 7,500 acres of forestland.

Under the agreement, Capital Region Water will receive approximately $9 million through the Fort Indiantown Gap Army Compatible Use Buffer program to grant a conservation easement restricting development on the property. Capital Region Water will continue to own and manage the property.

 

Incumbents Victorious
Harrisburg-area officeholders beat back party challengers during the recent primary election.

State Rep. Patty Kim defeated challenger Richard Soto by a wide margin for the Democratic nomination for the 103rd legislative district. She is unopposed in the general election in November.

In the 104th district, incumbent Republican Sue Helm topped challenger Nate Curtis. She’ll face Democrat Jody Rebarchak in the general.

In the 15th Senate district, incumbent Sen. Rob Teplitz easily topped challenger Alvin Q. Taylor. In the general election, he’ll face developer John DiSanto, who narrowly beat Andrew Lewis in the Republican primary.

 

Home Sales Climb
Homes sales in the Harrisburg area rose substantially in April compared to the year-ago period.

The Greater Harrisburg Association of Realtors reported that April sales totaled 739 units in April, compared to 653 units in April 2015 in its region, which includes all of Cumberland, Dauphin and Perry counties and parts of York, Lebanon and Juniata counties.

The median price dipped a bit, from $163,000 to $160,000, though the average days on the market fell substantially, from 99 to 83 days.

County-by-county statistics reflected similar trends, with unit sales up substantially and average time on the market down.

 

So Noted

Aangan Express opened for business last month at 263 Reily St. in Midtown Harrisburg. The restaurant, located directly across the street from Midtown Cinema, is a second location for Aangan Indian Restaurant of Susquehanna Township.

Better Homes and Gardens Capital Area cut the ribbon last month at its location at 500 N. Progress Ave. The company offers a range of real estate services for the Harrisburg region.

Dalicia Bakery opened its doors last month at 1419 N. 3rd St., Harrisburg. Owner Samra Alic and her daughter, Ajla, run the bakery, which offers breads, sandwiches and Little Amps coffee, in addition to cakes and other sweet treats.

Eastern University and the Papenfuse administration announced a partnership last month to provide tuition breaks to Harrisburg city workers and their families. Employees will receive a 25-percent discount as well as some free professional development training.

Fasta & Ravioli Co. had a “pasta cutting” last month to open its elaborate new stand in the brick building of the Broad Street Market. To celebrate, owner Bob Ricketts gave away 1,000 pounds of pasta to customers.

Harrisburg Mall last month announced the arrival this summer of two new restaurants. Kondu, serving quick-style Asian cuisine, will take a spot next to 2nd & Charles, while burger-and-fries franchise Checkers will open in the food court.

Mel’s Rock N’BBQ moved into a permanent home in the Broad Street Market last month. Mel’s had been in a pop-up stand for several months before building out a permanent spot in the stone building.

 

Changing Hands

Barkley Lane, 2525: R. Medellin to T. Brandon, $64,000

Briggs St., 235: J. Bradley to JLS Rentals LLC, $66,000

Calder St., 254: C. Elder to C. Baxter, $93,900

Derry St., 1221: N&R Group LLC & Touch of Color to 101 S. 17th Street LLC, $250,000

Derry St., 2615: P. Nalewak to S. Mejia, $38,000

Duke St., 2436: A. Miller to D. Moran & M. Everetts, $56,000

Fulton St., 1410: C. Platkin to N. Richardson, $95,000

Fulton St., 1707: J. & C. Thomason to C. Hutchinson, $102,000

Green St., 1610: M. & S. Noorbaksh to A. Calvano, $118,000

Green St., 1619: D. Healey Sr. to M. & L. Stednitz, $101,200

Harris St., 220: E. Brown to D. Grossman, $49,000

Harris Terr., 2483: Secretary of Housing & Urban Development to H. Nguyen, $35,000

Herr St., 267: B. Moehler to R. Joseph, $140,000

Hoerner St., 135: J. Gable to Green Property Management LLC, $49,900

Hoffman St., 3012: J. Dearing to D. Gule, $99,900

Logan St., 1712: Secretary of Veterans Affairs to PA Deals LLC, $72,250

Market St., 1913: Fulton Bank NA to Slatehouse Group LLC, $52,000

Market St., 2501A: J. Langley to A. Buglione, $55,000

Mercer St., 2468: PA Deals LLC to MidAtlantic IRA LLC & C. Hampton, $61,900

North St., 274: Mid Penn Bank to A. Gonzalez & L. Galvis, $240,000

N. 2nd St., 1007: J. & M. Solomon to C. & E. Bryce, $195,000

N. 3rd St., 1404 and 1409 & 1411 Susquehanna St.: Volunteers of America to Zecharya International Inc., $50,000

N. 3rd St., 2331: Federal National Mortgage Assoc. to F. Laoukili & M. Mtere, $32,000

N. 4th St., 1623: GWD Capitol Heights LP to T. Menta, $109,900

N. 4th St., 2715: J. Gilmore to K. Hilborn, $90,000

N. 5th St., 1821: C. Mitchell & J. Jackson to Home for the Friendless, $71,500

N. 6th St., 1408: PA Deals LLC to D. Sharma & N. Aggarwal, $103,250

N. 6th St., 2508, 2512 & 2516: JRH Anthony Partnership & Mr. Handyman of Lincoln Park to Harrisburg Housing Authority, $230,000

N. 13th St., 142: V. Trong to J. Forsyth LLC, $30,000

N. 17th St., 1000: S. Osibodu to D. Robinson, $75,000

Park St., 1923: S&H Investment Group LLC to Diamond Mined LLC, $45,000

Penn St., 1801: C. Touma to M. McCann, $112,000

Penn St., 1820: PA Deal LLC to D. Kapil, $122,000

Penn St., 1915: A. Mills to J. Bankard, $136,000

Rudy Rd., 1914: J. Charlton to M. Thach, $66,000

Rumson Dr., 2990: M. Salerno to R. Gonzalez & M. Cabrera, $50,000

S. 16th St., 1047: W. & E. Turns to W. Zawadski, $50,000

S. 18th St., 1319: New Island Properties LLC to K. Shemory, $80,000

S. 19th St., 24: J. Forsyth LLC to B. Zimmerman, $40,500

S. 25th St., 442: P. Bauer to R. Weese, $94,900

S. Cameron St., 912: Camp Hill Cleaners & Mark Cleaners to New Vision Management, $100,000

S. Front St., 707: D. & G. Dowen to A. Patton, $180,000

State St., 1606: Mid Penn Bank to R. Covington & T. Pean, $35,000

Susquehanna St., 1336: Metro Bank to Frog Hollow Associates LLC, $77,500

Verbeke St., 316: Kidder Wilkes LP to Silver Stone Enterprises LLC, $52,400

Wallace St., 1637 & 1639: J. Shurns to Buonarroti Trust, $118,170

Walnut St., 108, 110 & 112: Vast Holding LLC to E. Etzweiler, $225,000

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In New Video, Water Authority Asks Customers to “Consider the Source”

Capital Region Water CEO Shannon Williams at the DeHart reservoir, in a screenshot from the "Consider the Source" video.

Capital Region Water CEO Shannon Williams at the DeHart, in a screenshot from “Consider the Source.”

The next time you drink a beer at Appalachian Brewing Co., consider this: the water used to make your Mountain Lager or Hoppy Trails I.P.A. likely came from the pristine DeHart reservoir, Harrisburg’s six-billion-gallon water supply.

That’s one of several facts the city’s water and sewer authority asks you to ponder in “Consider the Source,” an informational video released in the past week that takes viewers on a brisk tour of their water’s route “from raindrop to tap.”

Capital Region Water’s chief executive, Shannon Williams, narrates a journey that begins in the sky, pauses at the 5-mile DeHart, and proceeds down the mountains through 25 miles of pipe towards the treatment plant and Reservoir Park, before ultimately reaching the taps of the authority’s 60,000 customers.

Williams also urges viewers to help protect the water they drink, by not littering, picking up or alerting the authority to dumped trash, and reporting vehicle spills along Route 325, which runs through the watershed.

The video, complete with a patrol-boat’s-eye view of the DeHart, was funded in part by the League of Women Voters of Pennsylvania, under a grant from the state Department of Environmental Protection. You can watch it here: https://capitalregionwater.com/considerthesource.

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With Vote on Land Sale Approaching, Officials Still Have Questions

A map of Capital Region Water land around the DeHart, with the parcel proposed to be sold at right, in purple. Courtesy of Capital Region Water.

A map of Capital Region Water land around the DeHart, with the parcel proposed to be sold at right, in purple. Courtesy of Capital Region Water.

Before they support the sale of land in Clarks Valley, above the reservoir that supplies Harrisburg’s drinking water, the folks at Capital Region Water would like some assurances on exactly how well the land will be preserved.

That was the sense conveyed by some comments at the second of two public hearings on the proposed sale, which took place last night at the Dauphin County Agriculture and Natural Resources Center in Dauphin.

Under the proposed sale, the federal and state governments would partner to conserve the land in perpetuity while also generating short-term revenue for Capital Region Water, the city’s water and sewer authority.

The Department of Defense would put up about 75 percent of the $1.1 million project cost, through a federal program for creating permanent buffer zones around military installations.

Fort Indiantown Gap, a National Guard training facility neighboring the parcel, would apply for the funding, while the state Game Commission would ultimately take ownership of the land, a 383-acre parcel above the DeHart Reservoir.

The deed would include a restriction preventing development of the land, enforceable by the federal government, plus a promise to protect the watershed.

The Conservation Fund, a national environmental charity, would facilitate the transfer.

Tanya Dierolf, Capital Region Water’s sustainability manager, said during the presentation that the authority’s goals for any sale would be threefold: to protect the water, to generate revenue and to manage the authority’s natural resources.

Yet some of the most pointed questions after the presentation came from Capital Region Water officials, who challenged the notion that the commission would be a better steward than the authority.

David Nowotarski, the authority’s chief financial officer, at one point asked why the proposed deed restriction couldn’t contain a clause prohibiting drilling, referring to reports that the Game Commission had in recent years relied on drill leases for revenue.

The DeHart parcel, the purchase of which would link two existing tracts of state gaming lands, does not sit atop the Marcellus Shale, the rock formation tapped for natural gas in recent years with hydraulic fracturing and other drilling methods.

It does, however, sit above the Utica Shale, a formation a few thousand feet deeper than the Marcellus, a point Nowotarski raised after the meeting.

David Mitchell, the land management supervisor for the Game Commission’s southeast region, said the deed would contain language providing for watershed protection.

But Kyle Shenk, the Conservation Fund’s Pennsylvania representative, said the addition of language about drilling and mineral rights could affect the appraisal of the parcel, possibly reducing the amount Capital Region Water could get for it.

Specifically, if the parties were to insert language retaining Capital Region Water’s mineral rights and its right to enforce the restrictions, as Capital Region Water at one point requested, that would change the amount the Conservation Fund could pay for the parcel.

“Our appraiser would have to do a whole new report,” Shenk said.

Dan Galbraith, the authority’s superintendent at the DeHart Dam, also questioned whether the Game Commission would take better care of the land than the authority.

“Who’s a better steward than the owner?” Galbraith asked, adding the land could become a source of revenue in the form of timber sales.

Capital Region Water, formerly the Harrisburg Authority, did realize some revenues from timber sales in the past, but has stopped selling timber until it adopts a new forest management plan, according to Andrew Bliss, an authority spokesman.

Joshua First, introducing himself as a Harrisburg resident who owns 1,500 acres in Clarks Valley, said the deal had his full support.

The Game Commission “are spectacular, A-plus stewards,” said First, who said he hunts and traps on state gaming lands. “My question is, why are we doing only 383 acres? Why aren’t we doing the whole watershed?”

A vote to move forward with the agreement of sale is scheduled for Feb. 25. A board vote in favor will commence a 150-day due diligence period during which all parties can continue to review the proposed sale.

The authority has also commissioned a consulting engineer’s report from Herbert, Rowland and Grubic regarding the sale, which will review whether the transfer would materially affect bondholders as well as what forest management options are possible for the area, Bliss said.

Capital Region Water is asking for public input, which should be submitted at capitalregionwater.com by Feb. 18.

This story has been updated with clarifying information from the Conservation Fund about how proposed changes to a deed restriction would affect the land’s potential sale value.

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TheBurg Podcast, Jan. 30, 2015

Welcome to TheBurg Podcast, a weekly roundup of news in and around Harrisburg.

Jan. 30, 2015: This week, Larry and Paul discuss City Council’s latest legislative session, gun-rights groups suing the city, and a whole bucketful of honorable mentions, including the cover of the February issue, which was distributed today.

Special thanks to Paul Cooley, who wrote our theme music and whose own podcast, the PRC Show, is available on SoundCloud and in the iTunes store.

TheBurg Podcast can be downloaded by clicking on the date above or by visiting the iTunes store. You can also access the podcast via its host page, here.

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