Lock Haven City Council Hears Community Concerns Regarding Mill Hall Pool Renovations and Proposed Senior Housing Complex
By Emily Wright
LOCK HAVEN— The Lock Haven City Council held its first regular meeting of 2025 on Monday night, where council members covered several items on the agenda, starting with public comments and requests from residents and city taxpayers.
Lenny Long, representing the Mill Hall Pool Committee, kicked off the public comment section alongside Mill Hall Mayor Tom Bossert and Bob Dwyer, also part of the committee. The 54-year-old Mill Hall Pool is the only public outdoor pool in the lower part of Clinton County, and Long discussed its dire need for renovations.
As a member of the Clinton County Community Advisory Committee, Long has been working closely with Mayor Bossert and Bob Dwyer for two and a half years to initiate the renovation process. He explained that their goal is to raise enough funds to meet the $952,000 matching grant awarded to the pool project by the Pennsylvania Department of Conservation and Natural Resources (DCNR). Long mentioned that the Clinton County commissioners granted the Pool Committee $33,000 for a feasibility study, but additional funding is still required to fully match the DCNR grant.
Long noted that the Mill Hall borough has taken on the task of renovating the pool and has already contributed $130,000 for architects’ fees.
“Our job is to try to raise the money, so we’ve been to various businesses, corporations, private donors, and we’re hitting the different townships,” he said. “We’ve been to Bald Eagle Township, we are going to Flemington Borough on Thursday night, and we thought we’d come to Lock Haven City, since you represent the biggest component of the constituents, to see if we can convince you to donate some money to this project,” Long said before mentioning that any contributions made by the city can be spread out over two years.
Building on Long’s statements, Bob Dwyer emphasized that the pool serves many people from the Lock Haven area, not just Mill Hall residents. He encouraged the city council to gauge whether its constituents have a strong interest in supporting the pool’s renovations and stressed that Mill Hall cannot handle the project alone, with pool operations costing around $100,000 annually in addition to significant repair costs at the beginning of every season.
Dwyer underscored the pool’s importance to the community, especially for teaching children to swim. “It’s really important for our kids in particular,” he said. “Everybody should learn how to swim. If we don’t have a county pool, kids are not going to learn how to swim, and we’re going to, unfortunately, pay the price for that,” he added, mentioning that the Lock Haven area is a water-friendly community due to the proximity of the Susquehanna River.
In closing, Mayor Bossert expressed gratitude to the council for any contributions it might make toward the Mill Hall Community Pool project and acknowledged the difficulty of raising the necessary funds. “As the mayor, I extend to you Mill Hall Borough’s thank you for anything that you may donate. It is going to be a real challenge for Mill Hall [and] for the three of us to meet that $952,000 to meet that matching grant,” he said. “Money is really tight; everybody is aware of that, but if we fail in this process, there won’t be a pool.” Bossert expressed optimism that, just as municipalities, businesses, and private donors successfully raised funds for the pool’s original construction, they can do so again.
The next to address the city council was Bill Spedding, a resident of South Fairview Street in Lock Haven. Spedding expressed his concerns about the lack of public involvement and communication with the neighbors of the former Dickey Elementary School property in relation to the recently proposed senior housing complex project.
This proposed housing complex, planned for the site of the former elementary school, was denied a zoning variance in late December 2024. This decision came after the city’s zoning board held a public hearing with the project developers. The property’s future remains uncertain after being denied variances for the city’s parking ordinance both in 2022 and again in December.
Under the city’s zoning ordinance, each apartment unit is required to have three parking spaces. However, the 2024 proposal provided for only one parking space per unit, along with six additional spaces for visitors. According to the project engineer, this parking ratio was based on standards from other nearby municipalities and is consistent with typical senior housing complexes.
Spedding requested that if another variance application is submitted for the Dickey Elementary School property, the city should engage with the property’s neighbors earlier in the process to avoid a scenario where the project is developed over several months and then presented to the community as an “all or nothing proposition.” He advocated for the involvement of neighboring residents in the decision-making process if the property is reevaluated and called for a compromise or negotiation that includes their input.
Referring to the December 17 meeting with the project’s developers and the city’s zoning hearing board, Spedding remarked, “The commissioner said ‘negotiation,’ but there wasn’t any compromise. There was no negotiation. It was 19 units the first time, 40 units this time, but there was no discussion with us.”
He requested that the city post the time and location of Planning Commission meetings on its website to ensure the public is informed and can attend to see the development plans as they evolve rather than just the final proposal. Spedding pointed out that the city’s website currently lacks a schedule of meeting dates and locations for the Planning Commission, making it difficult for residents to participate and stay involved as the project progresses. However, council member Steve Stevenson clarified that notices for all city Planning Commission meetings are published in local newspapers as legally required, although Spedding maintained that online publication would provide easier public access.
City Manager Greg Wilson acknowledged that the city’s current website lacks optimal organization and accessibility for information like meeting schedules, agendas, minutes, budgets, and audits, although most of this information is available online. He announced that the city is working with a different company this week to develop a new website, aiming to provide better organization and easier public access to information. The new website will feature improved organization and layout, making it easier to access schedules and agendas for the Planning Commission and Zoning Hearing Board meetings. Wilson noted that the new City of Lock Haven website will launch soon, with the exact date to be announced.
