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10.20 | THEBURGNEWS.COM | 9 NEWS All stories by eBurg staff | Harrisburg City Council plans to make changes to a proposed police advisory board that would give the body more teeth, including administrative subpoena power. During a work session last month, council member Ausha Green said that she will amend Bill 8 based upon input that council received from residents during three town hall meetings in August. "One thing that we heard from the public was the need for subpoena powers," said Green, who chairs council's public safety committee. "It's not in our purview to give judicial subpoena powers, but we can afford administrative subpoena powers." Green also said that she would like to insert a statement of intent into the bill. is would better communicate the board's purpose of providing accountability to the Harrisburg police bureau rather than serving as a community liaison. e proposed changes seemed to address additional public comments received by council and read during last month's work session. "I have concerns that the bill, as written, has no teeth in holding police accountable and makes the board into little more than a public relations mouthpiece for the police," one public comment read. Many public comments during the September work session touched on the idea of allowing the board to act independently. In the past, people have asked that police Commissioner omas Carter be removed as a non-voting member of the board. "e board must be allowed to deliberate in private," resident Vishal Bajpai said. "To be legitimate, the board must be sufficiently independent from the Bureau of Police." As the bill stands, the commissioner and the public safety chair would both be non-voting members. Green proposed an amendment that would remove them and, instead, invite them to quarterly meetings. Taking their place would be two more voting members from the city at large appointed by the board, Green said. Council member Danielle Bowers submitted an amendment, as well. She would like to see neighborhood groups formed throughout the city to confer and bring forth candidates, one from each of the seven policing districts. "I think this would offer a prime opportunity for them to work together to offer a recommendation that they all feel best represents their neighborhood," she said. Council will discuss Bill 8 again at their next work session. e amendments have yet to be voted on. Mayor Eric Papenfuse said he "didn't have an issue" with the amendments. Last month, council also discussed a proposed resolution that would establish use-of-force reporting to council and the mayor. Since the resolution was introduced, the police bureau did provide a report in June, city Solicitor Neil Grover said. e report included the existing required report on complaints with some information on use of force. However, several council members said they weren't satisfied with the report, saying it didn't include everything they requested. "It seems very high level," Green said. "It seems like it was very quickly put together. It needs to be kept up to date on a monthly basis." Papenfuse said that he is planning to propose a records management position within the police bureau that is dedicated to reporting. "We really do have a capacity issue at the police department, and that is best addressed by the establishment of some new positions," he said. After years of work, the Harrisburg Planning Commission has unanimously approved a new comprehensive plan for the city. During a virtual meeting last month, the commission voted to pass the plan, called "HBG2020," which is intended to set guidelines and goals for the city for the next 10 to 20 years. "I'm pleased with the current draft as it was passed and the fact that we finally have a guiding document, as there is so much development already happening in the city," planning commissioner Anne Marek said. Harrisburg's current comprehensive plan dates back to 1974 and is largely regarded as outdated. e effort to draft a new plan began in 2013, but has been hobbled by delays, as well as a dispute between the city and the architect hired to draft it. Now that the commission has approved the 246-page document, the plan moves to City Council. Once introduced, it will undergo a 45-day public comment period, as well as a public hearing, before a final vote. "We have several steps to go to reach the finish line, but we're hopeful this will get approved," Marek said. e draft plan contains many ideas, concepts and goals for Harrisburg over the next decade or two. For instance, it suggests the development of a "Market Mews" near the Broad Street Market, which would promote development of a "pedestrian-friendly, mixed-use core" of residential and commercial uses. Other ideas include refreshment kiosks in Riverfront Park, a "City Square" mixed-use development along Market Street east of the train station, a downtown gateway and a new "Meander Park" on Allison Hill. e draft, though, emphasizes that these are proposals, not mandates, and should serve mostly as guidance for future planning and zoning efforts. e summer ended on a high note for residential real estate, with home sales and prices both up substantially in August. For the immediate three-county region, unit sales increased to 845 from 783 in the year-ago period, while the median sales price shot up to $215,000 from $194,900 a year ago, according to the Greater Harrisburg Association of Realtors. In Dauphin County, residential sales totaled 385 units versus 347 in August 2019, while the median sales price increased to $185,750 from $175,000, GHAR said. Cumberland County saw home sales rise to 396 units compared to 357 last year, while the median price increased to $240,000 from $217,000. In Perry County, 43 homes sold, up from 23 a year ago, as the median price rose to $170,600 versus $145,000 in August 2019, GHAR said. e average number of days on the market decreased in August, down to 36 compared to 42 in the year-ago period, according to GHAR. Home sales and prices in the Harrisburg area also increased in July. CITY SHARES STATE STREET PLAN Last month, along one of the busiest streets in Allison Hill, Harrisburg officials spoke with the community about plans to make the street safer—a project with an end finally in sight. e State Street Rapid Response project was launched in 2018 with the intent to decrease pedestrian fatalities and accidents on State Street in Harrisburg. "ere have been more pedestrian and bicycle accidents on this road than anywhere else on the east coast," said Ambrose Buck, project manager. e dangerous nature of the street caused city Engineer Wayne Martin and his team to prioritize State Street, hence the project name "Rapid Response." But the project hasn't been very rapid. Buck explained how Harrisburg maintains State Street, but the commonwealth owns it and essentially must sign off on any proposed construction. e city had to rework its plan for the street a few times before PennDOT approved it. "is has been a long time of development," Buck said. "We are excited to get it done." e main goal of the plan is to slow vehicle traffic. Based on a survey the city conducted, residents were most concerned with high vehicle speeds. State Street will undergo a "road diet," reducing the number of vehicle lanes from five to three. Buck said that the project will add protected bike lanes and improve crosswalks, including a median refuge island in the middle of the street. e work should be completed in the spring or summer of 2021, Buck said. "I drive and ride my bike on this street a lot, and I'm glad to see all these improvements finally happening," said Harrisburg resident Lou Searles. Additional plans for State Street include addressing another top issue found in the city's survey—lighting. Buck said they will add new streetlights and update existing ones by December. e project cost is $653,000, with PennDOT contributing $500,000 and $153,000 coming from the city's fund balance. e State Street Rapid Response project is part of the city's "Vision Zero" initiative to reduce the number of pedestrian fatalities in Harrisburg to zero. SUBPOENA POWER PROPOSED COMPREHENSIVE PLAN CLEARS HURDLE Two long-abandoned industrial buildings have a new lease on life, as a Harrisburg developer plans to convert them to office and residential spaces. Matt Long, owner of Harrisburg Commercial Interiors, said that he and his business partners have begun interior demolition work on 28 and 38 N. Cameron St., two derelict buildings near Appalachian Brewing Co. "Our main motivation is that we wanted to save these buildings," he said. "No one else wanted to touch them." e ownership group, Cameron Street LP, bought the two buildings in mid-August for $25,000 from the Harrisburg Redevelopment Authority. Under their plan, the smaller building at 28 N. Cameron St. will become the new offices for Harrisburg Commercial Interiors, while the larger building at 38 N. Cameron will become a five- unit apartment building. Originally, the century-old buildings housed automobile-related businesses—a Motormart used car dealership and Duco Co. auto refinishers, before being gobbled up by Keystone Building Products, which occupied much of that block for decades. In 1990, after Keystone left, the city took possession of the abandoned properties, and then-Mayor Steve Reed touted a federally backed retail complex called Paxton Commons, which was never built. At one point, Appalachian Brewing Co. also considered the site for expansion. In 2015, the city turned the land over to the redevelopment authority, but still nothing happened, with the buildings occupied by squatters. Long said that his company already has begun the interior demolition and cleanup of the buildings, which were choked with trash. He expects work on the smaller, 7,000-square-foot building to be finished by the end of this year, which will enable his company to move into the space. e larger, 19,200-square foot apartment building next door will mostly be a 2021 project, he said. NEW HOPE FOR ABANDONED BUILDINGS HOMES SALES, PRICES RISE

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