Hearing Monday on Halfway House Proposal
City Council to Act on Conditional Use Request
LOCK HAVEN – City council will meet next Monday to pass judgment on a request to allow a halfway house/re-entry facility in the city’s hill district.
Because of the anticipated large public turnout for the hearing, Mayor Rick Vilello has announced it will be held at 7 p.m. Monday in Ulmer Planetarium on the Lock Haven University campus.
A Williamsport-based social services agency is pursuing establishment of the facility proposed for construction at 25 Cree Drive, across from Lock Haven Hospital.
The sponsoring agency is Firetree Ltd, founded in 1991 to provide transitional services to the drug and alcohol addicted.
The city planning commission last week reviewed the plans as presented by an attorney for Firetree. After 90 minutes in a packed City Council chambers, the commission decided it could not make a recommendation to city council, citing insufficient information.
Firetree attorney George Bishop said additional information will be provided at the Dec. 15 public hearing. He said the facility, designed to house up to 80 males, would be for those seeking to re-enter the community after incarceration, most of them after serving state prison time and most of them “non-violent offenders.”
Bishop said residents would be from “Lock Haven and surrounding communities” but acknowledged in response to questions they could come from across north-central Pennsylvania.
It was reported last week the city is awaiting an opinion from city solicitor Lewis Steinberg; city council will be charged with determining if the halfway house is an appropriate use of the lot.
The proposed site is on the west side of the Pine Haven apartments, a residential housing unit. Bishop said the site and the adjacent Pine Haven apartments are owned by BANCA company, a Williamsport area partnership made up of the same people who serve on the board of Firetree Ltd.
The halfway house lot is located near the Lock Haven/Flemington line and the halfway house request is expected to be a topic at this Thursday’s meeting of Flemington borough council. That meeting is scheduled for the borough building at 7 p.m.
A Flemington spokesman said preliminary comments from borough residents have been “negative” towards the proposal; there were negative sentiments heard from those who spoke at the Lock Haven planning commission session last week.
Cree Drive in Lock Haven becomes Parkwood Drive in Flemington, a residential neighborhood.
