Harrisburg City Council - Legislative and Work Session 03/24/2025

thank you uh for your patience um the

time is 5:50 p.m. I would like to call

our work session to

order Mr trusdale could you please call

the

role Miss

Daniels here Miss Davis present Miss

green present Mr Jones here Miss

Rose present Mr

Rodriguez pres Miss

Bowers presid thank you uh we have two

resolutions this evening and two

different committees uh for discussion

we will begin with the community and

economic development committee I will

defer to our community and economic

development committee

chair chair Daniels who is joining us

virtually

sorry thank you um Miss uh Mr Chell do

you mind reading the resolution 16 2025

into the record please resolution 16

2025 a resolution approving the

preliminary final land development plan

for 1103 South Front Street submitted by

Eden Villages of Harrisburg to construct

a transitional housing development for

homeless individuals featuring 32

individual tiny homes

a 2,400 ft Community Center offering

services for residents and Associated

site and access

improvements thank you and is there

someone from the administration to give

us a little background on this project

and it where it is process-wise uh yes

uh Jeffrey Knight planing director for

the city uh good uh good afternoon uh

council members um so the application

here uh before you today uh as Mr

trusdale read is for 1103 South Front

Street uh it is um the Eden Village

project uh it's uh a 30 um permanent

Housing Development with 32 individual

tiny homes a 2400 foot Community Center

uh offering services for the future

residents and Associated site uh and

access improvements uh this proposal is

uh the third of a three-phase

development for uh the large parcel just

south of the pendot facility um on South

Front Street uh first was the vopa

facility which has already been um

constructed and I believe um is occupied

uh the second phase was the tunnel

Towers project which is um a similar

veterans homeless veterans uh housing uh

project um of 84 units and that was uh

recently approved for the site just to

the north of uh this current um proposal

and then this uh development is the

final piece which is in between the boa

facility and the tunnel to Towers uh

property uh and will be actually um

serving a different population than

either of those two as noted those uh

two different projects uh were focused

on homeless veterans uh this project uh

is focused on uh the general homeless

population um uh in the city of

Harrisburg uh the project did receive

approval from the zoning hearing board

for the required zoning relief requests

at their October 21st 2024 meeting um

and as such uh the applicants uh do have

all the required zoning uh approvals

necessary for the project to go forward

and uh thus the uh tonight's meeting is

the final step uh in their approval

process uh before a final vote uh by

council at a future uh legislative

session with uh all of that being said

the Planning Commission uh recommended

uh by unanimous vote uh that the at city

council approve the request with the

following conditions uh the applicant

should ensure that the tiny homes will

be ADA Compliant via zero step countries

and that the community center will like

likewise have Ada access to ensure that

they're able to accommodate as much of

the population as possible proposed

access ramps uh which were uh presented

uh by the the applicants and discussed

at the Planning Commission meeting uh do

satisfy this condition and should be

installed between two units so the

access can be shared um and just to

clarify that condition a little bit um

the uh tiny home units themselves uh

changed a little bit um from the first

iteration of this project uh and I'm

sure the applicants will describe this

in a little bit uh but they'll have to

be sitting up so they have kind of a

small crawl space underneath um which

was not part of the original plan um so

they'll have these small ramps that will

allow um access up until the uh front

porch area which will then have a zero

step entry into the building itself um

and so having a ramp shared between two

units that are side by side will reduce

the number of ramps that they have to

put in uh the applicant must install

landscape screening or an opaque fence

along the western side of the proposed

parking areas to prevent headlights

spill over into residential

units uh planning Bureau recommends the

applicant Contin continue coordination

with the city arbest regarding required

landscape screening and trees and

retention of existing mature trees and

the installation of native plants and

pollinator plants in landscaped areas

throughout the site and more

specifically around the proposed storm

water detention basins uh and that's

something I believe the applicants are

working with uh the city R burst on um

so um they'll be in conformance with

that uh condition uh the planning Bureau

is recommending the applicant install

required bike parking near the main

entrance of the community center uh as

opposed to kind of offset to the side of

the building uh as proposed and that'll

be sheltered for the benefit of staff

and volunteers uh residents of the tiny

homes can store their bikes and their

units uh the applicant should coordinate

with the owner of the property to the

north of the site to secure easement

agreements for Access through their site

and provide such documentation to the

planning Bureau uh and while vpa has

already granted uh easement uh access uh

for both um this applicant and tunnels

to Towers because the ownership of the

property to the north will be Chang

changing uh to tunnels to towers and not

vopa we just want to make sure

everything's clear for potential future

owners of this site or in case we get

requests um from anybody uh and finally

uh approval uh of the project and

Associated waivers will not preempt any

waivers which fall under the purview of

agencies outside the city uh and this is

just relating to uh believe there were

some uh requests for relief from or

waivers from some of the subdivision and

Land Development ordinance that address

storm water management uh that ordinance

dates back to 1988 so it's not

necessarily representative of our

current configuration where we have crw

as a separate Authority which manages

those so we just wanted to make sure

that approval uh by Council would not

preempt uh the review Authority that any

Outside Agency would have as part of

this uh the Planning Commission

recommends city council approve the

request for the following reasons uh the

applicants have received approval from

the zoning hearing board for the various

relief requests needed to effectuate the

project as proposed uh the proposed

project will meet a critical need

housing for homeless individuals will

provide units with full bathroom and

kitchen facilities that improve their

standard of living and will further

development of a housing typology that

has been proposed and completed for

other sites in the immediate area uh the

project proposes a continuation of

recent recent development projects in

this area intended to provide

accommodations and services for those

exper experiencing homelessness and

finally if the recommended conditions of

approval are adopted the proposed

project will provide improvements that

will benefit residents including better

bicycle infrastructure and increased

vegetation and ecolog I ological

biodiversity uh and with that uh that is

the planning bureau's uh case report and

resolution um and um I believe the

applicants uh will be introducing

themselves and giving a little bit of a

background presentation on the

project thank you um is the applicant

present and able to give us a brief

description of the project and give us a

time frame of beginning and completion

yes um we we we are we are present and

um we we have the our engineering firm

who can give you all the the details but

um I wanted to give you a little bit of

the background um my name is Robert

Lawson I was it is it not excuse me I

don't think so can you move it okay

thanks how about now can you all right

great my name is Robert Lawson and at

one time I used to sit up there with you

but um but right now I'm here uh

representing uh Eden Village um

basically I've been working with the UNH

housee Community ah there's the

microphone I've been working with the

in-house Community for uh probably the

last 15

years thank you now I know I'm going

to but I've been working with the N

house Community for the last 15 years

and

what we've been seeing is that it's not

a easy issue to fix um I know that

Council in the city have dealt with this

problem for for many years and and I I

won't say that this is the the overall

solution but this is going to be a nice

um help what we need to do for most

people um they need Services they

need need mental health they need

addtion help but most importantly they

need housing we can get them into a

house we can work on everything so if we

start with the house and get a home

that's affordable and that's safe we can

help take care of all those other issues

and we can affect the quality of life

issues that are affecting our our

unhoused population in the quality of

life issues that are affecting others

who are living around the

areas they

look at a city and where their

priorities are by the most

vulnerable so I'm asking counil to help

us show that Harrisburg is a loving

passionate City by helping the people

that are the most vulnerable around us I

can't give you all the details this I'm

not the but we have a gentleman right

here who has done the hard work and and

can let you know how this is going to be

and also

tood let's go we have a video as well

that can least give you a little bit of

a background of of the what we've going

into our thought process for why we

decided that this would be an ende

woring Eden Village is a tiny home gated

community that's going to provide

permanent housing to are onh house

friends in Harrisburg Pennsylvania

homelessness is an issue in the back

woods to the biggest cities it is there

it exists somewhere around as of 2022

400 people in harisburg City are

experiencing homelessness uh you know

with the pandemic and everything those

numbers have increased Nationwide

dramatically we need to increase

awareness um one of the the problem of

homelessness in the Harrisburg region

and and then two that we have solutions

to help overcome it the idea of Eden

Village came from a real estate article

that uh a friend of ours John uh one of

the original Founders BR to a small

group that was interested in just loving

our community and so we just started to

ask questions around housing how do we

maybe look at housing as a way to serve

our community people have nothing some

some people and they just need hope back

to to be able to see that they can have

everything that God has for them as we

started our journey and were're working

and trying to serve our unhoused friends

uh we were trying to serve them with

basic things like food and supplies and

coats and clothes and bankets and just

over time we realized they needed more

than that uh they needed homes and one

day when we were out serving them uh it

came ever so clear uh we came across an

UNH house friends that we're looking at

some of the supplies that were available

and they said we don't need any of these

things and really God really spoke to

our hearts in that moment it was like

they need housing the ones that the Lord

cares about the most are the

marginalized and the ones that people

are like you're no good or you know they

they've had everything taken from them

underlying problem of homelessness is uh

the catastrophic loss of family of the

family system any one of us can be

homeless any one of us once we realize

the def actual definition of

homelessness we know someone close to us

that is experiencing that living in

their car living with family just couch

to couch like that's a homeless person

we walk from our car to our house and we

complain that we can hardly stand how

cold it is and if you had to spend

numerous nights outside it's just it's

just hard to believe and so any little

thing that we can do to help you know

even one person's life change for the

better is it's worth what little

sacrifice we're really doing I think we

need two things uh where we're at right

now uh we need people who connect with

this that uh have Financial Resources to

be able to give right now um we're

looking for for those people but we're

also looking for people that will

partner with the organization long term

what are your talents what are your

gifts and how talk to us about how you

can use them to help the people that

need it the most it's a dream until we

get the funds and then it becomes real

becomes tangible as we take ownership of

the land as we build the homes um and we

build the infrastructure for the homes

we need money to make sure that that

happens the total project uh is going to

be $3.5 to $4 million it's really going

to take a community to build a community

uh we often like to imagine a Harrisburg

where no one sleeps outside and

imagination's good but it's going to

take action to make that happen we don't

have the village yet but we're we know

that God wants the village so he's going

to bring the community together to make

it happen Eden Village is Hope Eden

Village is an opportunity for someone to

start over Eden Village is an

opportunity for them to be who God made

them to be

[Music]

isitt I have

don't

that's of GRA Ro

just wanted to bring

up excuse me one second don't mean to

interrupt you can you please um speak

into the microphone I don't know if you

need to take it off to access the the

render thank

you so I can't hear anything at all

right now sorry

about I did want to bring up a coup

but it's not written in the draft it

states that um item number two on page

four from the Harrisburg Planning

Commission it doesn't specify about the

um or opaque screening for the um

headlights spill over into residential

units so uh where we're talking about

there is um the Planning Commission

suggested did that tree plantings or

other blockages occur between the

parking lot and the residences in their

backyards so we agree that there should

be something done there um and we wanted

to clarify there was a p um a p fencing

could be used so I just want to clarify

that in the record so that it gets

written into there and then the other

item I just wanted to bring up so again

as uh Jeffrey had mentioned the sites

are originally shown on a pad where it

would be easy to kind of get that um

access level for Ada

accessibility um found out that there

was it was much less expensive to be

able to kind of bring these units in

pre-built and set them on a um kind of

cross space which sets them about a foot

and a half above grade um and so we were

we were hoping while the interior of the

sites are all interior of the buildings

are all ad accessible the community

center itself is completely ad

accessible um we were hoping that we

could

could provide the ad accessibility for

the exterior units where needed where uh

individuals would come in have that ADA

accessibility need since they're

individual residential units there's not

a requirement that they be Ada

accessible um and so I think the other

thing to bring up for Eden Village is we

are looking at long-term housing for

these folks so unlike I think veter vopa

and tunnel tow site where you're looking

at uh two years Max for housing this is

actually more like permanent housing uh

it can be a long-term situation and so

we don't want to build you know every

every dollar counts when you're building

this and we don't want to have to build

32 handicap ramps when only three or

four people may be uh need that

accessibility so would just ask that

would be item uh one from the uh

Harrisburg Planning Commission um

resolution on page

three like the council to consider

adjusting that to what I mentioned which

was provide the exterior handicap

accessibility only where the individuals

need that at the

residence I guess that's all I really

have welcome any questions from

Council okay so um if you don't mind

repeating your objection to to number

two I guess that's the period where you

kind of

um where the speak where the sure yes

yeah absolutely so and it's not really

an objection uh Jeffrey stated What was

decided at the Planning Commission

meeting that uh opaque fencing could be

used instead of

landscaping uh and it's just not written

into the into the draft resolution so

just wanted to clarify that if I may

Madam chair uh if you notice your last

exhibit has a

placeholder um which is the placeholder

is is the final minutes of the Planning

Commission and that will have that same

information that came from the Planning

Commission reflected that was just

discussed so that that they get swapped

out when they get down sort of in this

order of

events and I guess uh regarding that I

guess our understanding from the

Planning Commission meeting was that uh

the Planning Commission was amendable to

the um handicap ramps where needed um it

didn't sound like you were saying that

Jeffrey so I just I guess I wanted to

clarify that no that that is correct

okay great so hold so the provision to

um requires landscape screening um Mr

Knight you're saying that the Planning

Commission agreed to to opaque

screening um so on that point my

question is uh is just a simple um storm

water question like is the impact the

Minimus between the two the the

difference between the two when it comes

to storm water uh yes I would say it

is could you repeat that uh yes I would

say that it is a dominous difference

okay so then it's just a question of

like Aesthetics mainly uh primarily yes

uh the primary reason for the screening

is to BR again headlight spill over into

adjacent residences whether it's you

know this project or uh any sort of

residence in the city um but a opaque

fence would have the same um impact uh

so that's why the Planning Commission

authorized that as an

alternative okay thank you and then for

number one I wasn't clear on what the

objection

was what language would you like to

switch

out this is to the

applicant um yeah I guess one I wanted

to make sure Jeffrey maybe I was wrong

in so did the Planning Commission agree

to the you know individual Lots or Ada

accessibility as required uh they did I

think and that was in the formal

resolution I think it to Neil's Point um

the resolution that Council has was

dependent upon being infilled by the

discussion at the Planning Commission

meeting so yes that is correct that they

did uh authorize the use of the Rams

okay so if we're using then the you know

final decision of the perisburg Planning

Commission then we find that acceptable

I don't think we need to you know work

out individual writings at this point

then

um thank you thank you all um so I'll go

ahead and open up the questions to um

council members I'll start to the far

left uh with councilman

Jones Thank You councilwoman Daniels um

I really don't have uh much to say I

have a excuse me I will say um that this

is a great project and um as uh Mr

Lawson said I think this helps um with

some of the um unhoused individual in

our city um I think this is a great idea

I hope we can do some more at some point

to help some of the individuals um I

know you talked about the number of

unhoused residents being around 400 um

but we have some youth close to that

number as well you know um so that's an

issue um but um thank you for um God

putting these things in you guys it's

hard to do something like this this is

very much needed um not only in our city

and other places but I'm glad that this

project is um going to be able to uh

come to fruition not only for you but to

some of those other individuals that are

in house now some of my questions will

be just for public reference um safety

how is the lighting going to be outside

are there cameras um can you tell how

you're going to keep those individuals

safe and um the community

itself my name is C Lane with Eden

Village might want to pull that a little

closer or grab that

microphone Car Lane with Eden Village uh

pleasure to be here uh we will have

parking lot lighting Lighting on the

facility the facility is going to be

fenced in with Biometrics to get in and

get out um we will have cameras in

security there

also okay thank you no further questions

thank you uh councilwoman Daniels

thank you uh councilman

Rodriguez thank you madam chair uh my

questions would geared towards the

safety and lighting as well um seems

like a great project just echoing the

sentiments of uh councilman Jones and um

great job everyone no further sentiments

thank

you councilwoman

RS thank you councilwoman um Daniels uh

good evening to you all thank you for

being here um I love the project

um this is one of our most vulnerable

populations um so to give them housing

that is like you said that's step one

right I can't help you get better if you

don't have a place where I can get to

you at where I can service you so um

this idea is great it's going to be very

helpful so I just you know want to thank

you for bringing this project to the

city um I I don't have a lot of

questions just um mainly two when I was

reading the res solution I saw it said

that with respect to um MBE and wbe and

dbe participation that you at this time

have none planned so I was just

wondering um how will that change how

are you looking to involve um businesses

that are

disadvantaged um the microphone kind of

started to become muffled oh is it still

muffled can you hear me say I can hear

you now yeah okay did you hear my

question do you want me to repeat

it um I'll guess it from the answer

okay thank you all um yes that was my

question we're currently working with

all uh different agencies and businesses

and medical facilities uh to build our

partners we just had meetings last week

with UPMC uh and we're and stud

communication with different uh

organizations okay so you are working on

including those okay I just saw that it

was alarm alarming or it was a question

to ask just to see how that was going to

change with um cuz that's a big thing

within our community is that type of

participation we get left out a lot so

um just in Harrisburg residence you know

um and building these projects so thank

you for answering that um my other

question was um when it's single o

occupancy right so when choosing who's

going to occupy these houses um I do

know one thing Harrisburg is a a safe

haven for a lot of people they they know

we treat our unhoused population very

well um not and I want to see anyone who

is ready for housing to get it but how

do we make sure I would say our unhoused

population that has been in Harrisburg

for a while who was looking for this

opportunity gets it before like you know

someone who's just now coming to the

city because it's a safe haven like how

yes like how does that selection process

go or what do you think thinking that

will go to make sure we get those

residents first that have been here

waiting that's a great question there

going to be an application process so

we'll be able to interview understand

their background and as Rob said many of

us are working in the city right now

helping out so we've seen the faces we

know the people we'll be working with

other agencies like vpa or Bethesda

Mission things like that so through that

application process okay thank you that

was my my one big concern so thank you

that's all I have councilwoman

Daniels thank you um president

bow thank you I don't have any questions

thank you for your presentation and the

video this

evening thank you thank you vice

president green thank you very much

thank you all for being here tonight uh

and thank you for this project to begin

with um because this is a population

that often goes it doesn't go overlooked

but sometimes people just want to use

the simplest Solutions uh which doesn't

really lead people out of the situation

um I don't have many questions uh one is

what are the qualifications for the

residents like if someone is interested

in becoming a resident of Eden Village

are their qualifications they must meet

um is there an income requirement like

what are the requirements for them to

become a resident another great question

um there's two basic requirements uh one

they have to pay $300 a month in

rent and two they got to follow the law

we're housing first first and we believe

once a person gets to housing they can

work on themselves different some of the

programs that we will offer

there thank you very much I think that's

the only question I have thank you thank

you uh councilwoman Davis thank you

councilwoman Daniels thank you gentlemen

for being here this evening this is a

great project uh to uh uh add along with

all of the other housing programs that

we have in the city um it's definitely

um nice to see that you're working with

all the other agencies as well um so I

was wanted to ask a question about the

opaque fence you mentioned to uh prevent

the lighting from going over into the

other neighborhoods how tall will that

fence be

just curious to know how you

GNA so the uh intent is to have a six

foot high fence um and then it will be

opaque certainly within the area along

the parking lot is uh the intent okay we

don't have actual design yet for that

what you know what it would look like

but it will be opaque so okay and also

in the facility are you planning on

hiring um you talked about medical

providing medical and mental health

would you have um doctors actually on

site or will they be coming in or mental

health they'll be coming counselors okay

we'll give them space in the community

center for that for those opportunities

nice and then you mentioned $300 a month

yes is that what the residents will have

to pay that's what they'll have to pay

utilities included okay so if they're

homeless they don't have a job you're

plan on helping them to get jobs is that

a lot of the uh unhoused uh population

they do get some type of a check just

not enough to survive 600

900,000 um and we will be helping them

with life skills get jobs to continue to

grow okay great but initially they may

some of them may not have you know the

money to pay but you know as long as

they're getting the life skills and the

support they need that that's great that

they'll eventually be able to pay $300 a

month um is that required right up front

soon as they walk in the door or to be

able to pay the rent is one of the

qualifications to be able to okay okay

so as soon as they come in they have to

pay $300 a month they're homeless but

they come in that's correct and they pay

$300 a I'm just trying to wrap my head

around how you know some of them will be

able to afford that I know some of the

veterans who are homeless are getting

checks but some of the other um homeless

with disability and Social Security

and I didn't realize that you know how

many of them were were

getting benefits and there's other

programs in Harrisburg where they offer

and different things is there a security

deposit to live there like they come in

they pay $300 do they have to pay a

security deposit or at at this time

there's no security deposit for them to

put down oh okay um I'm just imagining

now you're providing to serve as your

landlord here now for them so they're

coming in it's $300 a month it's their

uh okay first month's rent last month's

rent security deposit or just a flat

$300 a month and that's right that's

where they go

okay

okay those are my only questions thank

you no problem thank you for your

service

absolutely uh councilwoman Daniels I do

have one additional question if that's

okay yeah sure um transportation we

didn't talk about that what about if

they need to go get Services how does

are you guys going to provide

transportation yeah that's a great

question as we were looking to uh secure

Land one of the key points was

transportation to be close to a bus stop

so as you know that the bus stop runs

right over there by pendant so you'll be

able to connect them to Services because

there are services that provide

transportation bus passes that's correct

thank you that's

it that was my final question

councilwoman

Daniels you so

um so so lobier again going back to

Provisions one and two do they need

Amendment during the legislative session

or so I I believe the both the um

applicant and the city representative

and the lawd have all represented that

those were the conditions agreed by the

Planning Commission um and the final

exhibit which has a placeholder will be

the final minute for the Planning

Commission and if what's in the motion

that it's approved consistent with the

minutes coming from the Planning

Commission um that should satisfy it if

for any reason those minutes are

different but I'll note Jeffrey writes

them uh the um they're going to be the

same uh that should be sufficient for

the public record in terms of keeping

the project moving

forward with with the conditions

discussed

tonight okay thank you um I guess that

does anyone have any last minute

questions

okay so I guess that concludes the

business of the community and economic

development committee um I would

recommend that we place um uh resolution

uh 16 2025 on the legislative

agenda on the next legislative agenda

thank

you thank you thank you thank

you the next committee business that we

have this evening lies with the parks

recreation and enrichment committee

committee I will defer to our parks

recreation and enrichment committee

chair chair RW thank you president

Bowers um Mr trale can you please read

resolution 15 of 2025

in resolution 15 2025 a resolution

authorizing the submission of a Grant

application to the Pennsylvania

Department of Conservation and natural

resources Community conservation

partnership program non-motorized Trail

grant program in conjunction with the

capito area Green Belt Association for

up to

$150,000 for funds to relocate a portion

of the Capital Area green belt in South

Harrisburg thank you Mr trale is there

anybody here from the administration who

can give us more details on resolution

15 good evening Council uh my name is

David Baker I'm the uh facilities

director for the city of Harrisburg um

we also have uh Deborah reart who is the

project manager that oversees this on

the city's behalf uh we also have um

volunteers from the green belt or a caga

volunteers and I believe uh Doug Hill

will be doing the uh line share of all

the representation of this grant ask

tonight thank you so whoever would like

to go

first so Doug the floor is yours thank

you

please state your name for us and who

you are representing tonight thank you

I'm Douglas Hill and I am president of

the Capital Area Green Belt Association

I live at 709 Green Street here in the

city and uh we appreciate the council

the committee rather taking up this

resolution tonight uh this is part of a

much larger project for relocation and

reconnection of the green belt in South

Harrisburg uh it's fitting that uh we

would be on the agenda right after Eden

Village because that is part of the

reason uh that is is prompting this

relocation uh we have a handout for you

the sheet I have though on the chart is

a little bit different this shows the

historic Route of the green belt through

the South Harrisburg area and what you

see are two pieces right here uh the

first went through what is now vopa this

part goes through what will be tunnel to

Towers and then also as you just

approved Eden Village and so because of

those developments and the fact that uh

their private property and the develop

we could not find a way to make the

trail compatible with those developments

uh we are obliged to move the trail to a

different location I'll also acknowledge

the owner of the property who was very

graciously allowed us uh use of that

property for 30 years of the green belts

history uh again just not compatible use

right now prompting uh the

relocation the two sheets I gave you the

two uh drawings I gave you uh illustrate

the route that we're working on for

relocation in South Harrisburg and very

simply instead of coming down and going

past the pendot building into the prior

properties we'll take a short Crossing

of Front Street just above Sycamore

we'll travel along Sycamore uh to the

other side of the railroad bridge and

then we will work through either the

peny property or the cumulus Towers

property and go down to reconnect with

city property just above shoi Street and

so that's that will be our reconnection

uh we have completed an engineering

feasibility study uh that shows that

this is compatible uh with the roadway

with the use with the tra traffic

volumes uh and that it can be

accomplished

reasonably uh the trail will actually

run along the sidewalk here uh we will

be widening the sidewalk make it safe

for cycling traffic as well as

pedestrians and then we'll be completely

off the roadway once it connects through

these properties down here because we

are still in discussion with the land

owners uh here we do not yet have uh a

connection to to be made and so we've

divided the project into two phases and

so phase one will be this part from

Front Street just up Sycamore to about

the entrance of the peny driveway

uh phase two then will be whichever of

these two alternative we work out for

the reconnection down here uh last

November you were kind enough uh to

sponsor a grant for us with dced for an

LSA Grant uh for application for a

million dollars uh which is would be the

primary funding for phase one what's in

front of you tonight is an additional

$150,000 to dcnr for Trails Grant uh

which will also augment the funding for

phase one the remainder of the funding

this is estimate estimate of about 1.2

million altogether for this section uh

the remainder will come from kaga funds

and funds that we've independently

raised uh from foundations and others

um the the other side is the closer

detail view of how this phase how phase

one will be arrayed so you see the

walkway and the Terminus there at the

peny supply so I will be happy to answer

any questions you

have thank you so much I appreciate your

presentation um Mr Hill um I don't have

any

questions uh you gave me a very detailed

response I'm glad to see we're working

on how we're going to um relocate a

portion of uh the green belt you and I

did speak earlier and you did say that

this portion being um reconstructed or

relocated because it's going through

dcnr you do have to get um some type of

um resident buyin I know there's not

that many um housing houses around that

area however the ones that are um I know

you did say you would be getting um

their their approval or buy into it um

my second question I do actually have

one do you have to I don't there's not

that many businesses either but do you

also have to contact the businesses and

get their approval we we've already done

that okay and so really the only

business is Dolphin County General

Authority uh right here we just got an

endorsement letter from them today for

the project uh other than that uh this

is currently um uh Phoenix Associates

Property I think May ultimately become

pendot property as a part of the

Reconstruction of 83 so that's not an

issue uh to the north on Front Street is

shipoke we anticipate getting a letter

tomorrow and support from them and then

the only other property owners is are

peny Supply and cumulus and and as I

said we're already in in negotiation

with pen Supply because that's our

preferred alternate route uh but I think

your point is a good one first the Grant

application does require uh a community

participation uh provision and so we

have written that into the Grant and the

thing that we're particularly mindful of

is that uh the green belt is uh an asset

for the entire community and so that's

not just the immediately adjacent

property owners and and developments but

that's everyone uh on down Cameron

Street on up in the hill uh out behind

Cloverly Terrace and and all the rest

and so we are going to be making a broad

Outreach uh so people understand we're

trying to reconnect the trail that they

rely on to get the businesses to get to

the riverfront and and other bests I

agree thank you that's all the questions

I have I'm going to start here down to

um my far right with uh councilwoman

Daniels do you have any

questions questions thank you you're

welcome uh councilwoman Davis do you

have any questions oh thank you

councilwoman w

good evening thank you for being here

are there going to be new bike

trails up along uh Sycamore Street so

what the the design on Sycamore Street

instead of the trail as it historically

went down past the pendot building will

cross Front Street uh just before

Sycamore and then from this point on

we'll be widening the sidewalk along

Sycamore Street So currently it's 5 feet

we'll widen it to about 10 feet which

will make it uh an suitable width for uh

cycle traffic in addition to pedestrian

traffic and if you're familiar with the

green belt uh up in the area of

Linglestown Road where we head toward

Fort Hunter uh we similarly widen the

sidewalk there in the neighborhood of L

McDonald so if you want to see it live

and in person this is how it would look

I have seen that thank you and does this

affect the uh School in any way going up

past 13th Street on no because uh we uh

actually do not cross Cameron and we we

actually uh turn off of Cameron or we

turn off before Cameron Cameron's up

here we turn off before uh the railroad

overpass and we go behind the railroad

back down to shoy

street thank you thank you for your

presentation okay thank you um uh vice

president green do you have any

questions thank you for being here

tonight I don't have any questions for

you thank you all right president Bowers

do you have any questions good evening

just maybe it's a premature question

question excuse me but I was just

curious about the community

participation and community outreach do

you have a plan and what what are you

considering in um communicating with any

residents that might be imped sure uh

well we'll be we'll be doing the usual

um social media outreach and things like

that but then we also have contact

information for uh Community groups in

in the neighborhoods that are uh

adjacent to the trail we reach out

directly to

them thank you thank you very much

um councilman Rodriguez do you have any

questions thank you madam chair um it's

just uh relieving to see that some of

the funds are being earmarked and

through grants and other processes I

know when we first discussed it when the

towers came up it was a little uncertain

um and that was a big part of the

discussion but I'm glad to see that

director Baker and and the rest of the

team is on it um I just look forward to

see how this would manifest through

phase one and you know I wish you all

the best um if Council can help in any

way I'm sure uh I speak for my

colleagues we would love to assist with

some of the community bu in and see if

you know there's anyone you need us to

reach out to and try to make this great

for everyone um thank you thank you

councilman thank you councilman

Rodriguez and councilman Jones do you

have any questions thank you

councilwoman Ros no questions okay thank

you um I don't have any more questions

either so I'm recommending that

resolution 15 of

2025 be placed on our next legislative

agenda and that concludes the business

of the parks recreation and enrichment

program thank you thank you we will now

move forward with our meeting agenda

next we have have public comment um just

a few housekeeping notes before we begin

if you could please state your name and

your address for the meeting record if

you don't feel comfortable sharing your

address please share the vicinity in

which you live within the city you will

have 4 minutes to share your comments Mr

trusdale will serve as our timekeeper

I'll begin to my right is there anyone

that would like to offer public comment

seeing and hearing no one anyone in the

middle section

my name is Peggy Grove and I'm the owner

or was the owner at that they're all in

different stages of all the three

projects that you have approved for

South

Harrisburg um this has been a vision of

mine for many many years and now we are

going to be

providing housing for people absolutely

need it and um and I've also just behind

the scenes have told um the green belt

Association that I will help in any way

I can with that also to because it's

been difficult for them to try and come

up with another place and we we all did

the planning behind that to try and and

come up with a with another plan for

them so anyway I wanted to take a moment

just to thank you for your patience and

for your diligence in U getting this p

and I used to sit up here

also thank you is there anyone else in

the middle section that would like to

offer public

comment yes my name is John trainer and

excuse me John trainer and I'm here

representing hm Harrisburg Midtown Art

Center um I'm here to speak to

resolution 20 I believe the uh noise

ordin exemption um why I came today is I

believe that um the noise ordinance uh

map is not correct because the map in

2002 when the first ordinance was passed

um was for Second Street in 2014 there

was an amendment to include Third Street

uh Harrisburg M all Center and the mill

works but I understand or I think I

understand today that it might have been

changed during Co which we never

received noticed of so I would

respectfully ask Council to

include the original 2014 amendment that

included thir Street mil Works Harris uh

Harrisburg Newtown Out Center and other

properties along Third Street thank

you thank you is there anyone else in

the middle section that would like to

offer public comment

okay seeing and hearing no one anyone to

my

left seeing and hearing no one the time

is 6:41

p.m. we stand adjourn from our work

session as everyone is aware we have a

legislative session scheduled uh

immediately following our work session

this evening um if you would indulge us

for a few minutes while we review our

meeting agenda through our legislative

caucus and then I will call the

legislative session a meeting to order

so I will call the meeting to order Mr

trusdale will lead the roll call the

invocation this evening will be led by

councilman Rodriguez followed by the

Pledge of Allegiance which will be led

by councilwoman Daniels for

communications this evening we are

joined by Chief anline who will provide

a fire Bureau annual

update then we will move to Courtesy of

the floor followed by the approval of

minutes for the legislative session that

occurred on March 11th

2025 reports of committees uh there are

two reports that you will hear this

evening the first delivered by chair

Daniels on behalf of the community and

economic development committee on the

work session of March 24th

2025 and the second delivered by chair r

on behalf of the parks recreation and

enrichment committee on the work session

of March 24th

2025 we have one ordinance for first

reading that's Bill 4 of

2025 which will move to the community

and economic development committee we do

not have any ordinances for Amendment or

ordinances for final Passage we will

then move to resolutions uh the first

resolution for consideration is

resolution 15 of

2025 which we will vote upon next

resolution 16 of

2025 which we will vote upon resolution

17 of

2025 will move to the Public Safety

Committee resolution 18 of

2025 will move to the administration

committee resolution 19 of 2025 will

move to the budget and finance committee

and resolution 20 of 2025 will move to

the Public Safety Committee is there any

old business for discussion council

members seeing and hearing none any new

business old business councilwoman RS

okay any new business

okay seeing and hearing none then we

will stand a

journ okay the time is

6:44 p.m. I would like to call our

legislative session to

order Mr trale could you please call the

role Miss

Daniels here Miss Davis present

Miss green present Mr Jones here Miss

Rose present Mr

Rodriguez Miss Bowers present the

invocation this evening will be led by

councilman

Rodriguez thank you Madame President um

I'd like to set aside a moment

of honest and respects for uh two great

leaders in the community um Mr Barry uh

bird known him as low key bird or um

Carl p p Singleton if we can give these

gentlemen um just a moment of silence in

honor of their

memory thank

you thank you councilman rad Ruez the

Pledge of Allegiance will be led by

councilwoman

Daniels thank you

um I pledge allegiance to the flag to

the

flag of the United States of America and

to the Republic for which it stands one

nation under God indivisible with

liberty and justice for all thank

you thank you councilwoman Daniels for

communications this evening we are

joined by Chief enine who will share an

annual update on behalf of the fire

Bureau good evening Council and Happy

Spring I promised Jared I'd keep it to

10 minutes he said I could have 15 but I

I'll respect time and say 10 so I'd like

to present uh the annual report of the

Harrisburg Bureau of fire to city

council um for full transparency for not

only Council but I think it's important

for the public uh to see some of those

behind the scen behindth scenes things

and there's year-end statistics that may

not um become readily available anywhere

else so we can move right

into the uh vacancies and uh deployments

and injuries uh we and this is all year

end uh 1231 24 and I'll give you a

little highlight of where we are um just

as of this month so uh the compliment is

12 2124 was 93 firefighters we had seven

vacancies um we had seven fire recruits

start the academy two weeks ago at hack

so all those vacancies we had we have

filled and they will be out on the

street um Mid June of

2025 uh we currently have three active

on Military deployment and as of uh two

weeks from now we will be down to two on

active military one of our folks is

coming back uh and we'll be back on the

street we have uh two work-related

injuries that are long-term they are

still uh still there and the one

personal injury that was there 1231 just

went back to work uh actually Monday so

and those are important numbers as we

look at our overtime uh and and why some

sometimes that overtime number is a

little inflated but I will also give you

some good news on the overtime um and

and reimbursements as we look at the the

budget then so in 2024 we had six

retirements uh Captain Byron Warner

lieutenant Jeffrey Miller firefighter

Cedric Yates firefighter Bill Russo

firefighter Dan Milan and firefighter

Will Turner so those those six gave 20

plus years uh to the citizens of our

city and uh as I said we were able to

replace all them uh just this

month moving on we did have a few uh in

full disclosure we had three

resignations from the fire Bureau um

firefighter Patrick

Gerson uh left to become a police

officer uh which is kind of odd I wish

commissioner Carter was here uh

firefighter Nicholas Hurst resigned uh

for some military related issues and

firefighter Jonathan FY left to pursue a

career in another field so we do uh you

know much like the the police department

um we do lose some folks on occasion and

uh uh you know unfortunately two of

those

were uh you know probably not they

probably didn't want to go uh the 2024

new recruits I believe we talked about

those um they are now now in the street

and fully functioning uh and doing a

great job protecting uh Harrisburg and

our surrounding

communities on the next slide uh little

overview on grants and what we spent uh

we uh were working right now um on the

uh bid designs for the flooring the

$250,000 from Dolphin County gaming we

were awarded 15,000 from the State Fire

commissioner which was used to purchase

new equipment for the new apparatus we

uh had purchased in that we were

received in

2024 and uh early 2025 the Northfolk

southern safety Grant we're in the

process of working on some custom themed

uh thermometers for our highrise elderly

folks living in the highrises downtown

where we see a uh a lot of unattended

cooking fires and a lot of times those

folks are asleep so we're going to give

them a timer and being from Northfolk

Southern it's going to be designed like

a train um to give them that Northfolk

Southern uh uh advertising if you will

since they they've uh given us the

funding uh 2024 cdbg funding I won't go

over uh the 2024 because we did talk

about that in the in our budget

presentation for the most part though I

will say that um most of those projects

right now are uh in under legal review

uh and have been uh put out for

pricing uh we did submit a assistance of

firefighters Grant uh and got that in on

time for firefighter physicals and

cancer screening uh and our 2025 2425

$155,000 from the State Fire

commissioner that is in process and will

be awarded that funding uh that

typically hits the bank here in a couple

of months um and that again was for

firefighter physical so again uh giv

back to those firefighters that give to

us uh and making sure that we keep them

healthy uh and physically able to do the

job uh in 2025 um we're currently uh in

process and both of these are being

reviewed right now um replacing all of

our dry suits so that's the cold water

rescue gear that we use uh in the river

um during uh the cold season U and then

also the purchase of a UTV um which we

are in uh in in process I just got the

final quote for that uh in this

morning's

email the uh 2024 uh budget analysis

I'll just make a couple of points on the

budget I am not going to go through this

whole thing so you can skip the whole

way through that uh but just in full

transparency u i I like that you guys

are able to see every dollar we spend

uh and where it's going uh and what

we're spending it on uh and I think

that's an important thing for

transparency the one thing that isn't

captured in this um is some of the

reimbursements that we receive so we did

uh we did spend uh .67 million running

the fire Bureau last year um on a

13.39 million budget so we're about 776

th000 uh under budget uh and that that

was actually uh if you recall we added

$500,000 into the the uh

2025 budget for the purchase of a new

fir Tru that went into a special fund

and that was kind of the underspend uh

of that budget so theoretically we were

under spent by about

$200,000 um of what we were allocated uh

a couple of points to make um as far as

overtime and Pennsylvania task force one

I know that always becomes a contentious

issue we spend a lot of money on uh

Pennsylvania task force one deployments

which is all reimbursed through the

federal government and I'm not sure that

we really did a good job uh explaining

to council uh how that money comes back

so just as an example uh in

2024 uh some of the reimbursements we

receiv received back um was uh about

$7,000 for two very small deployments we

had a Lorton Virginia so our our uh

members of Pennsylvania task force one

went to Lorton Virginia on a uh large

scale exercise that reimbursement coming

back to the city was 33,6 73

.96 and in February of 2024 we received

our reimbursement from Hurricane uh uh

ion which was $1

15,964 so again that reimbursed the city

for those expenses and that overtime uh

that we spent uh for uh Pennsylvania

Task Force One so if we recall um we had

hurricane debban hurricane Helen in 2024

um those uh invoices have been sent to

the city of Philadelphia for

reimbursement hurricane Debbie um the

reimbursement for that will be $

31,725

190,000

7779 uh so that just gives you an idea

it's a total of about

$322,000 uh that will be reimbursed the

city's already expended that money right

was City taxpayer dollars that we

expended however the federal government

um through that deployment reimburses us

uh and most likely we will come back um

and ask for maybe a reallocation of some

of those funds uh throughout the year um

so you can look forward to that that may

uh help us offset um some equipment

costs and some things like that so uh we

we're going to discuss that internally

what we'd like to do uh some Department

highlights um I always like to I I like

to end on good notes and we'll start on

a couple of somber notes unfortunately

we had two fire fatalities

uh Miss Brenda cuff that lived on Barry

Hill Street um she tragically died

January 1st of 24 and Miss Shirley Smith

um who died uh on North uh 15th Street

uh back on September the 12th our

response time uh continues to meet

national standards um we've continued to

improve and modernize our training plan

and that is due in part to the uh

additional Deputy Chief of training that

we hired uh two years ago and that has

really started to pay dividends uh as

far as our training goes uh making that

even across the board for all four

platoon and then also the recordkeeping

of that to make sure that we're meeting

those uh recordkeeping criteria so that

as as I talk a little bit later about

ISO how that affects our ISO rating our

insurance services office rating uh and

our public protection classification

that will directly benefit um the

taxpayers uh and business owners of the

city uh we did uh Place three new fire

apparatus and service Tower one uh that

is running from Station 2 Squad

um which as you'll recall believe back

during the budget we were talking about

it was going back um to pierce uh Deputy

Chief sazan and the crew are going out

the end of next week um to do a final

reinspection on that uh to come back

from the warranty repairs in Appleton

Wisconsin and then wagon 3 which is

running from the Uptown at station one

um we continue to collaborate with codes

on building and housing issues uh with

illegal clubs illegal boarding houses um

securing power um to The Condemned

buildings that they need to uh tear down

uh and then uh We've elevators have

become an absolute thorn in our side

throughout downtown Harrisburg and so we

continue to coordinate those uh those

repairs I I will note and I I didn't put

them in this slide presentation because

it just happened not that long ago but I

have one that we'll use uh maybe in a in

a first quarter or first half of update

to you folks on

uh a a building that was condemned uh on

Allison Hill that actually had a Club

operating in it that had plywood over

the windows and doors um an absolute

unbelievable uh issue that that we uh

were dealt with out there um you'd never

know it from the street uh we continue

to uh put some emphasis on the community

engagement uh with smoke detector carbon

monoxide installations uh we use some of

that cdbg money to buy a significant

slug of uh smoke alarms uh street fairs

and block parties continue to be a big

uh a big push for us as well as station

tours there's actually a station tour

tomorrow at 2:00 at Station 2 uh and

then the National Night Out uh fire

prevention activities where we're going

out with fire drills fire extinguisher

training for uh various groups whether

that's uh you know Community groups or

um we do the state uh as well so part of

our state funding that we get um we also

provide them with uh fire extinguisher

training on an annual basis um

career day events to try and get uh some

younger folks uh interested in becoming

firefighters and then uh the

coordination uh in assistance with the

execution of downtown parades and events

uh unfortunately this got dumped to us

uh a couple of years ago uh when we did

a good job of running a uh holiday

parade and uh we've been roped in ever

since so

[Laughter]

uh uh some of the in-house things that

uh our folks do that that have a direct

uh savings to the taxpayer or annual

hose testing ladder testing the SCBA so

that's the breathing apparatus that we

wear and then uh maintenance and repairs

to our small uh equipment such as saws

and and positive pressure fans and other

gas powerered equipment so this is all

done in house to save uh taxpayer

dollars uh so that we're not sending

this stuff out to get uh to get repaired

and we're also not bringing somebody in

a lot of departments will have somebody

come in and actually uh do that host

testing and latter testing

Forum uh 2024 was an extremely busy year

um for reasons unknown for multiple

dignitary visits to Harrisburg um we did

get to uh meet and work closely with

social uh with secret service and law

enforcement we had president Trump vice

president Harris vice president Vance

and first lady Biden uh and so that was

a multitude of days uh work and and that

that work typically begins about a week

prior to that visit uh and then there's

all kinds of planning from not only

Emergency Services side but we also look

at from uh the Emergency Management side

of things uh and you just as a as an

asside when uh president Trump came to

uh the farm show complex um it was the

first time in my near 30 years here

where we uh activated a mass casualty

incident where we had about 140 people

that were treated on scene we

transported uh six people to the

hospital and we had one person uh that

was in cardiac arrest uh it was an

absolute horrendous day um the troops uh

did an amazing job uh you know taking

care of the uh you know taking care of

of all those visitors that that were

having medical emergencies so you know

our our job often you know often times U

you know we're to Bure of fire but

there's a lot of other uh uh you know

things that we do aside from that so

medical is one of them and these big

events um are are taxing to us but it's

also part of our job and and our troops

doing an amazing job at that uh we uh

continue to support Pennsylvania Task

Force One uh you know as I just talked

about uh we were deployed and support of

tropical storm Debbie tropical Cyclone

Francine hurricane Debbie um we had that

Lorton Virginia task force exercise and

a Joint Task Force exercise in Lancaster

that was Pennsylvania task force one as

well as South Central task force both of

which were uh a critical part of uh

we've been working with the Fish and

Boat Commission uh and there's anou

currently Council uh approved uh the

administration to work with fishing boat

and pendot on some permanent marking

solutions for the Dock Street Dam which

we uh continue to work on um and from

the Emergency Management side of things

again this is that that arm of the

bureau that you some typically don't see

so that continual monitoring of the

river uh and weather events that could

impact the city so through that whole

Ice uh event that we had for you know

six seven eight weeks where we had ice

on the river every day um we're

monitoring that and about twice a week

we're driving Front Street taking photos

and documenting the ice um so that we

can build a better portfolio of what the

ice looks like um prior to ice jams and

flooding and events like that and being

able to better predict and protect ours

uh residents that are in those flood

prone areas such as uh northern part of

the city and then obviously

shoke uh we're with Dolphin County a lot

uh and this is about my last slide

Dolphin County a lot where am I TimeWise

anyway I'm good

uh it's not 40 minutes I used to like

you

councilman uh and then uh We've uh uh we

continue to Monitor and evaluate uh

Homeland Security threats so we get

weekly updates uh as far as th those

things go and I think the big thing that

was a from an emergency management that

was a tentacle that the uh residents got

to see was that coordinated activities

uh won the uh tornado touchdown uh out

in the Belleview Park area earlier this

year

and the last thing I want to touch on is

just the call volume so you can blast

through some of that stuff uh and I'll

tell you when to

stop there there you go right here so uh

and I'm not going to go through all

these statistics um I just wanted to

show these and then we'll we'll stop the

last one our typical daily Staffing uh

on all of our apparatus is between three

and five Personnel um and uh that uh

just depends on how many folks are off

uh and you know when I first came here

we were running some apparatus with two

which is a safety issue for not only the

firefighters but uh for the residents

because you just can't do anything with

a crew of two folks um so we'll go to

the very last one it is the uh

statistics for the city so lad 2 squad8

wagon four wagon three and here we go uh

total number of calls we did in 2024 was

3,516 uh of those 281 uh incidents were

of some kind of a fire related incident

uh and the one that's really disturbing

us and we continue this has been a

habitual issue for us um and we've we've

tried multiple things as you know as

well

as invoices for fines uh monthly is that

false alarm and false call that's 26% of

our call volume uh and we have sent

letters um we have uh we have done a lot

of other things uh and these fines just

they just keep paying them they don't

care we are going to implement uh I just

was on a conference call this afternoon

uh we started a new uh Records keep

records management system February 1 and

we're going to integrate with that and

Council I believe will have to approve

it um but it is a self-reporting from

the industry so folks that are doing

repairs on alarm systems and things like

that will have to report to us the

deficiencies uh and a lot of other

municipalities are using that that may

help us Whittle Whittle this number down

a little bit and that's what we're

hopeful for um we uh go to the next

slide uh so we look at Harrisburg City

incidents uh so the 3500 number was our

total incidents 2,994 of them were here

in the city that's a little bit of a

breakdown average response time uh

ticked up a little bit at four minutes

and 56 seconds uh and we want to be five

minutes or less so we're right on that

right on that precipice of uh of that

five minutes so we're working uh on some

solutions for that uh and May have uh

some bigger things to talk about later

in 2025 and then the last uh the last I

want to talk about is our mutual Aid um

and I'm not complaining about Mutual Aid

because it is a good thing um for us

it's a good thing for those residents

outside of the city uh but our mutual

Aid last year was 522 which I I'll point

out is more than a majority of the

volunteer fire company's total annual

call volume outside of Harrisburg uh and

our biggest

uh you know our biggest users of mutual

Aid uh interestingly is sweat a Township

uh followed by Steelton uh so there's uh

I know sweater is trying to work on some

things but they just have they've tried

every kind of Staffing issue that they

can come up with part-time uh incentive

programs and things like that and uh the

city of Harrisburg continues to uh

provide a lot of mutual a to them uh as

well

as excuse me as well as the bur Steelton

so um there may be more to to speak

about uh on that in the coming uh in the

coming months I just don't want to talk

about it publicly at this point uh and I

think that is all um to present uh uh

publicly uh and then obviously this can

be placed on the city website everything

that needed to be redacted uh was

redacted uh everything else is a public

document that is read readily available

for uh full transparency of the

operation of the fire Bureau and if

there's any questions I'd be happy to

answer those

thank you so much you know I always

enjoy your thorough presentations I

don't have any questions but I will um

open the floor to my colleagues who may

have some I will begin with our Public

Safety chair councilman Jones Thank You

president Bowers same sentiments great

job no

questions thank you councilman Rodriguez

any questions thank you Madame President

uh Chief always a pleasure very thorough

as usual um no questions thank you

councilwoman Ross any questions good

evening uh Chief Interline no questions

thank you for your

presentation thank you vice president

green any questions uh no I don't have

any questions for you uh just thank you

for the presentation and thank you for

all that you and your department

does thank you

councilwoman uh Davis

sorry do you have any questions thank

you councilwoman B and thank you chief

atline for your

presentation I know you try to keep it

within 10 minutes but I can tell you

enjoy your job I could talk to you for

the next hour but I don't think the

public would enjoy

that I believe that so I was going to

ask um a couple questions

here when I see fire trucks out you know

going to a fire someone calls you I

don't always see an ambulance there is

it typical for an ambulance to to you

know go alongside on every call with you

excellent question um uh so the the

generic answer is no um and the

ambulance servic is provided by

Community Life team EMS uh through

UPMC uh and they are over taxed as it is

um so back in the day if we went in the

Wayback machine 25 30 years ago we did

get ambulances on a lot of the calls we

go to but the only time um they come out

now um is obviously it's a medical

emergency uh a vehicle accident with

injuries and then anything that's

reported as a building fire so if it's a

reported building fire they're coming

and that's for the protection if there

were any victims of the fire but also

more importantly um you know anything

that were to happen while we were on

scene of that fire but all the other uh

mundane you know gas leaks and uh you

know things like that they're not coming

out with it's just because there's not

enough ambulance to go around okay as

you were you was giving your

presentation I just thought of a couple

questions my mind was wondering if um

the fire uh men and women if there are

any men women there are they prepared to

deal with say drug overdoses I know a

lot of times the fires could be started

as you mentioned by cooking and you are

um performing life-saving skills with

CPR and different things like that but

how about

maybe yeah we do respond on those that

that comes in as an AED call um so we do

respond on those um however in

Harrisburg we have opted that the police

department carries Narcan um we opted

out of that about 10 years ago um and

that was just a decision based upon

where we were 10 years ago with Staffing

um and you know we've just maintained

that it's worked very well um where the

police give the Narcan and then our guys

um which the majority 90% of currently

are EMTs so and and that's that's a

requirement of the job and it's been a

requirement of the job since the year

2000 so um our our guys are then able to

do the medical end of things while the

police are giv Naran and it just it's

worked out a lot a lot nicer that way

okay thank you for um the clarification

on that and also are there any new

developments in terms of training any AI

new technologies or I think we're

treading very cautiously on uh use of AI

now from a report writing standpoint it

will become quite prevalent but uh you

know as far as AI um we the fire service

is treading cautiously uh on on its

use okay but I think it's there right

and you know 30 years ago we were still

riding the tailboards of fir trucks and

we never thought we'd lose that and we

did so um you know as things come along

we need to evaluate them and see what

fits best um with the the service that

we provide so there's definitely place

for it uh just where does that fit for

us okay I just thought some of those

questions would be um good for you to

answer for the public so thank you very

much and thank you for your presentation

again absolutely you're might you're

quite

welcome thank you councilwoman Davis

councilwoman Daniels do you have any

questions enough questions thank you

thank you again for being here thank you

appreciate it we will move forward with

our meeting agenda next we have courtesy

of the floor same housekeeping notes if

you are interested in offering um any

public comment please state your name

and your address for the meeting record

if you don't feel comfortable sharing

your address please share the vicinity

in which you live within the city you

will have four minutes to share your

comments Mr trusdale will serve as our

timekeeper I'll begin to my right is

there anyone that would like to offer

public comment seeing and hearing no one

anyone in the middle

section okay seeing and hearing no one

anyone to my left seeing and hearing no

one we will move forward with the

meeting

agenda next we have the approval of

minutes for the legislative session of

March 11th 2025 council members are

there any revisions to those meeting

minutes okay seeing and hearing none the

minutes stand approved next we have

reports of committee there are two

committee reports you will hear this

evening the first will be delivered by

chair Daniels on behalf of the community

and economic development committee on

the work session of March 24th

2025 thank you the community and

economic development committee met

earlier today March 24 2025 to discuss

resolution 16 hyen

2025 uh which involves the construction

C of 32 individual tiny

homes um and a 2,400 square foot

Community Center for um UNH housee

veterans um

the

um as of today the the plan has received

all of the zoning approvals necessary um

there were two issues um that were

addressed mainly whether the proposal

for addressing headlight uh pollution

was sufficient and both the party in the

city seem to be in agreement that um

that having an opaque uh feature versus

a landscape feature would have as very

similar outcomes um and the and a

resolution surrounding ADA requirements

which um since the facilities have to

meet them anyways um is was not really a

material issue um and that's pretty much

it I would recommend that we approve

this resolution um and that concludes my

report for this committee thank you

thank you chair Daniels uh the next

committee report you will here will be

delivered by chair RWS on behalf of the

parks recreation and enrichment

committee on the work session of March

24th

2025 thank you president Bowers uh good

evening again everybody um on March 24th

2025 the parks recreation and enrichment

committee met to discuss resolution 15

of

2025 a resolution authorizing the

submission of a Grant application to the

Pennsylvania Department of Conservation

and natural

resources Community conservation

partnership program notorized Trail

grant program in conjunction with the

capitol area Green Belt Association for

up to

$150,000 for funds to relocate a portion

of the capital green Bel in South

Harrisburg director uh David Baker and

Mr Douglas Hill who is president of kaga

were both president to speak about

resolution 15 Mr Douglas explained the

portion of the green belt um that would

be moved was private property and now

needs to be moved due to two affordable

housing projects being built on the

property which tunnels to Towers in Eden

Village an engineering feasible study

has been done and approved the

$150,000 um be submitted after approval

will pay for this resolution and for the

relocation of the green

belt

um there were questions asked from

Council such as um do you have to get

business buying will there be uh new

bike trails along Sycamore Street does

this relocation affect the School in any

way and what will your plan be for

community outreach um Mr Douglas

answered Those Questions by letting

Council know that um they do have to get

uh business buying as well as Community

buying and some plans for outreach where

to do community meetings and also

contact members who have a direct

investment or or interest in the uh the

trail being

moved uh also uh Mr Douglas made us

aware that there has been a letter of

support and anticipated letter of

support from the shy pooke neighborhood

I recommend my fellow council members

vote Yes on resolution 15 of

20125 and that concludes the business of

the parks recreation and enrichment

committee thank you thank you chair Ross

we have one ordinance for first reading

that's Bill four of 2025 Mr trusdale

could you please read it into the record

Bill 4 2025 an ordinance amending the

city of harrisburg's officials Zing map

to change the parcel zoning designations

of 320 Riley Street 1511 North Third

Street and 329 Harris Street formerly

1530 North 4th Street from the

industrial Zone to the commercial

neighborhood Zone pursuing to chapter

7-33 of the codified ordinances of the

city of

Harrisburg thank you Bill four of 2025

will move to the community and economic

development committee we do not have any

ordinances for amend M or ordinances for

final passage we now move to resolutions

the first resolution for consideration

is resolution 15 of

2025 Mr trusdale could you please read

it into the record resolution 15 2025 a

resolution authorizing the submission of

a Grant application to the Pennsylvania

Department of Conservation and natural

resources Community conservation

partnership program non-motorized Trail

grant program in conjunction with the

Capital Area greenb associ iation for up

to

$150,000 for funds to relocate a portion

of the capito area green belt in South

Harrisburg thank you council members are

there any final questions comments or

concerns related to resolution 15 of

2025 seeing and hearing n Mr trusdale

could you please call the vote Miss

Daniels

yes Miss

Davis yes Miss green yes

Mr Jones

yay Miss Rose yes Mr

Rodriguez yes Miss Bowers

yes resolution 15 2025 passes by vote of

7 to zero thank you next we have

resolution 16 of

2025 Mr trusdale could you please read

it into the record resolution 16 2025 a

resolution approving the preliminary

Land Development plan for 1103 South

Front Street submitted by Eden Villages

of Harrisburg to construct a

transitional housing development for

homeless individuals featuring 32

individual tiny homes a 2,400 foot

Community Center offering services for

residents and Associated site and access

improvements thank you council members

are there any final questions comments

or concerns related to resolution 16 of

2025 yes

thank you I um am in favor of this

program I just was concerned that some

of the homeless um unhoused um some of

our unhoused population might not have

$300 to move in so I was concerned that

you know they would be left out on the

street um I know there's a lot of them

who have been out there day in day

day out in the winter through the months

of the snow the ice the rain and to

think that you know this facility is

going to be built and then some of them

may not be able to get in or qualify

because they don't have $300 is just

concerning to me and um that's my only

concern but I overall think it's a very

good uh project and it will work well

with the other homeless um initiatives

in the city so thank you that's it thank

you councilwoman Davis any other

questions comments or

concerns seeing and hearing now Mr

trusdale could you please call the vote

Miss

Daniels

yes Miss Davis

yes Miss green yes Mr Jones yay Miss

Rose yes Mr Rodriguez yes yes Miss

Bowers yes resolution 16 2025 passes by

vote a 7 to zero thank you resolution 17

of

2025 Mr trusdale could you please read

it into the record resolution 17 2025 a

resolution approving the sale of the

fire bureau's Seagrave pumper V number

1f9 e k28 T2 V C S 2 67 to high Spire

Bureau thank you resolution 17 of

2025 will move to the Public Safety

Committee resolution 18 of

2025 Mr trusdale could you please read

it into the record resolution 18 2025 a

resolution appointing Miss Cheyenne

Johnson to serve on the environmental

advisory Council thank you resolution 18

of 20 25 will move to the administration

committee resolution 19 of

2025 Mr trusdale could you please read

it into the record resolution 19 2025 a

resolution authorizing the city of

Harrisburg to negotiate and enter into a

Professional Services agreement with

Conrad seagull Incorporated to continue

to provide Actuarial Services consisting

of other post-employment benefits

evaluations as required by the

government accounting standard board

statement number 75 thank you resolution

19 of 2025 will move to the budget and

finance committee our final resolution

for consideration is resolution 20 of

2025 Mr trusdale could you please read

it into the record resolution 20 2025 a

resolution authorizing and approving the

submission of a petition to the

Pennsylvania liquor control board for an

exemption of a specific downtown area of

the city of Harrisburg from the board's

regulations regarding Amplified music

being heard off the licensed premises in

favor of enforcing the city's adopted

noise control and abatement ordinance

thank you resolution 20 of 2025 will

move to the Public Safety Committee old

business councilwoman RWS yes I just

wanted to remind um anyone interested in

applying for the two youth commission

positions Junior and senior advisor um

tomorrow is the last day it closes so

please apply it's a great chance for you

to become a mentor and to help our youth

understand um their role and their civic

duty here in the city so it closes

tomorrow can't wait to see all the

people who apply thank you thank you is

there any other old business for

discussion okay seeing and hearing none

any new

business okay seeing and hearing none

the time is

7:23 p.m. I will entertain a motion to

journ so move is there a second second

thank you we stand a jour

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