By Diane Petryk
The Daily Item
SUNBURY — The City Council tossed its moribund Redevelopment Authority a man and a goal Monday.
The result, they hope, will be a three-square block stunner — a model for the Sunbury of the future. That's the goal.
The man, former Councilman John Shipman, will fill one of two empty seats on the five-member board. The idea is that he and another appointee will enliven the panel and hit the ground running on clearing out and sprucing up an area around Miller and Keller streets.
The area is south of Shikellamy High School and near the Sunbury Textile mill and Sun-Re Cheese Corp., west of Wolverton Street.
For some time, city residents have complained that the area could look better.
The council gave its unanimous approval to the project and, citywide, put 18 properties, including 1106-1108 Miller St., on its nuisance property list.
That means that unless the owners act in 10 days, the council, acting as the Board of Health, can take action to rehabilitate or demolish the buildings.
The Miller Street property is so bad the code office has had to shore up parts of it, said Mike Rhoads, the city's property maintenance officer.
The overall plan for the target area is to restructure the neighborhood, said Mayor David Persing. The Redevelopment Authority nearly died because it didn't have a project, he said. Now it does — creating a model for the new Sunbury.
"It's a positive thing in the right direction," Persing said, while assuring the work will not be competing with work toward a new comprehensive plan.
"That's 18 months down the road," he said, "but we don't want to wait that long to get started on something."
Other members of the Redevelopment Authority are Adam Purdy, Sue Morrison and Brian Betz. The remaining seat will be filled as soon as a candidate is found.
Meanwhile, the Sunbury Pride and Renaissance Coalition came forward with a complementary opportunity, and the council gave it its unanimous blessing.
SPARC, a committee of Sunbury Revitalization Inc., will apply for up to $1.5 million in available Pennsylvania Department of Transportation money to beautify Chestnut and Wolverton streets between Front Street and Haas Avenue.
The project, that would include improved bicycle and pedestrian access and enhancements designed to mitigate a speeding problem, has residents' approval according to prior surveys, a Monday letter from acting SPARC Chairman Bob Zimmerman told the council.
The PennDOT money is being offered for both design and construction phases, he said. "SPARC believes that this Chestnut-Wolverton Street project would qualify for this funding." PennDOT is soliciting applications for the money, but the department require the city's participation because it is given on a reimbursement basis.
Related to Market Street plans, SEDA-Council of Governments representative Jamie Shrawder told the council a project to restore the street clock in front of the American Legion at 611 Market St. is almost ready to go. The state Department of Community and Economic Development has executed a contract for the repair with the company that has the best proposal, Essence of Time, of Reading.
Councilman Jim Eister said restoration of Cameron Park's historic fountain is progressing well and promised it will be back in the park in August.
In other business, the council agreed unanimously to invest in new accounting software for an initial $1,600, which is in the budget for this year, and a lease of $1,600 a month for three years beginning in January.
Council member Todd Snyder said the current Doss-based system is inefficient, and the reduction in staff time the new system will allow more than justifies the expenditure.
He said it will make greater financial details accessible and can be customized to local needs.
Councilman Jim Eister added: "We're a $4 million business, and right now, we can't track things."
The council also discussed, but took no action on, a letter from Sunbury Market House Corp. operators complaining of street vendors usurping sidewalk and parking space in front of their business at 436 Market St.
"The curb market vendors are using our space," wrote Bob Rebuck, Lisa Hoover, Gay Stroh, Deb and Henry Kohl and Nelson Dressler. "A customer-pedestrian may trip, slip or fall over a vendor's goods, and we would be responsible for the incident. Our insurance premiums are a burden, which the curb vendor does not have. ..."
"Also the parking spots on Market Street are an issue. ...We have two spaces, which are prime spots for a customer to park, shop with us, spend some money, drive away, another customer can repeat the process. We would appreciate your looking into removing the bus stop and possibly adding some spaces to our frontage."
The council spent considerable time discussing the possibility of moving the street vendors to Stroh Alley. Police Chief Stephen Mazzeo suggested making Edison Plaza an outdoor shopping area.
No decisions were made.
