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Bids wanted to rid city of burned building

By WENDY STIVER

wstiver@lockhaven.com

LOCK HAVEN — Contractors are invited to bid on razing the burned-out former furniture store at 37-41 Bellefonte Ave.

City council voted unanimously Monday to proceed with removing this threat to public safety. No comments were made about the proposed demolition.

Council vice president Stephen L. Stevenson was not at the meeting, and Councilman Jonathan Bravard participated by phone.

Bids are due by 5 p.m. Monday, Feb. 5, two hours before city council’s next meeting.

The disastrous fire in the vacant store took place on Dec. 16, 2016. A year and three days after that date, the city issued a demolition order. Owner David Mayes has not responded.

Within living memory, the building has housed a Wolf’s Furniture store and a Heilig-Meyers Furniture store. In later years, discount household merchandise could be purchased there.

Today there is no roof on its top floor and its big front windows show only wreckage.

Neighboring buildings have been affected. At least one, Covenant United Methodist Church, needs to make exterior repairs, but safety dictates that these repairs must wait until the condemned structure is repaired or removed.

A section of Willard’s Alley has been closed, also for safety, and a perimeter set up to discourage people from walking in front of the burned-out building.

If the city is forced to pay for the demolition, it will place a lien on the property to eventually recoup the costs, City Manager Gregory J. Wilson said.

Also Monday, council took its second and final vote to rezone a portion of Susquehanna Square from residential to commercial. A medical center for urgent care will be built there, according to an Express source.

At the last council meeting, a resident at the corner of Fourth and Spring streets, across from Susquehanna Square, aired his concerns about traffic and parking.

The city has requirements about off-street parking that the proposed development would have to meet, council heard.

Since that meeting, no other comments came to City Hall, and none were heard last night, either from the public or from council.

Bill Mincer, of 227 S. Highland St., announced that a new organization, Safe Haven, is distributing flyers to raise awareness about suicide prevention and mental health issues in general. Safe Haven is also planning an awareness event in March, he said.

The group’s next meeting will be held at 11 a.m. Feb. 17 in the Avenue 209 Coffeehouse meeting room, he said.

Mincer was appointed to the city recreation and parks board for a three-year term and to the zoning hearing board for a one-year term.

Other appointments approved Monday were Richard Morris and Elsa Wench as city representatives on the Ross Library Board of Directors and Evalyn Fisher to the planning commission. All have three-year terms.

Noah Zuback, a Sugar Valley Rural Charter School student, received approval to use Zindel Park for his senior project, a 5K trail run/walk to benefit the Pennsylvania Wounded Warriors Project. He told council he has the run/walk mapped out, and the event is slated for Presidents Day, Monday, Feb. 19.

The organization SPARK, which is active in energy and other issues, received approval to use Triangle Park on Sunday, April 22 for an Earth Day celebration.

The city now has $4,323 in Community Development Block Grant funds available for another use.

The dollars were originally designated toward equipment for a sensory room for Clinton County Community Connections. The room was to give clients some basic control over their own environment, with options such as dimming the lights or raising the volume on music. Under the block grant program, the funds must be used within a certain time period, but Community Connections has informed the city it is not ready to do the project yet.

Council will hold a public hearing at 6:45 p.m. Monday, Feb. 19 about the $4,323 and its potential use.

Council may see a proposed ordinance regulating food trucks within a month. The city solicitor is reviewing it, Wilson said, in answer to a question from Councilman Richard L. Conklin.

Conklin also said he attended the ribbon-cutting Friday for the new Lock Haven Court apartments on Third Street and the contractor and developer were “incredibly complimentary” about city staff and how smoothly things went during the long cleanup of the site and the development of the apartments. He added his kudos to the staff for their cooperation on this project.

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