UDA board approves LERTA financing

LOYALTON - Funding options for a restoration project in Lykens got the green light of approval from the Upper Dauphin Area School Board.

The directors on January 10 voted 8-1 to submit a letter of support to the Lykens Chamber of Commerce, Lykens Community Development Corporation, and Home Leasing of Rochester, NY, for its three-building, $13.3 million renovation plans and its LERTA designation.

LERTA, or Local Economic Revitalization Tax Assistance Act, allows local taxing authorities to exempt improvements to deteriorated business property from property tax increase for a limited period of time. Instead of a tax freeze, properties are to be assessed at their current assessment values for a 10-year period. According to the LERTA act, a major deterrent to improving a deteriorating business property has been that improvements result in higher property value, and therefore, result in higher local property taxes. The higher taxes often discourage business property owners from making improvement in blighted areas.

President of the Lykens Chamber of Commerce Kevin Jury, Vice-President Don Sauve and chamber member Larry Jordan attended the school board meeting, along with Associate Projects Director Phillip Borrelli and Vice-President of Development Cheryl Stulpin from Home Leasing.

Jury explained that the Lykens Community Development Corp., an arm of the Lykens Chamber, had owned the properties which Home Leasing is purchasing. Borrelli said Home Leasing is the developer who is partnering with the Dauphin County Redevelopment Authority on the $13.3 million plan. It's one of the first partnership projects for the county with the LERTA effort and a private developer, according to Jury.

Under the plan, the former Lykens Hotel (along Route 209) and the former Lykens School (on North Second Street) will be completely restored to their historical character, Borrelli said, including facade, large windows, and marquis. Some units will be added at the former Deibler's Drug Store location (across the street from the hotel) and some commercial space will be made for a retail tenant. In all, 43 apartments are expected to be created among the three buildings.

According to Borrelli, Home Leasing is also partnering with the Northern Dauphin Human Services Center, so that some job training and literary events can be held on the first floor of the hotel building.

"It's expected to create about 100 construction jobs and three permanent jobs," Borrelli said.

School board director Jack Laudenslager cast the only no vote for the LERTA designation.

"We represent five towns and four townships and I don't think it's fair," Laudenslager said following the meeting. "I don't have a crystal ball on what's going to happen ten years later. These 43 units have to be rented out for this to work. . .We should do what we were voted in to do and should stay out of the realtor business," he said.

In other action, the board heard a presentation from Superintendent Paul Caputo on "Speak Up 200". As part of Project Tomorrow, California, the Speak Up program promotes science, math and technology education. The system involved students taking a survey and schools getting use of data free of charge. Caputo said UDA used that data from its students and made some changes to it curriculum, including adding the FOSS science curriculum - in response to students reporting they preferred hands-on type science learning and experimentation.

Also by using the data, the district wrote a grant and received grant funding for its technology plan. About 88 percent of UDA students in grades K-12 participated in the survey, he reported. Each year, the promoters of the Speak Up 200 program select the top 200 schools that have a high participation rate, and UDA was selected as a top 200 school, he said.

In other business, the board approved some new policies, including one for a code of conduct for board members, one on board policy procedure and administrative regulations, and one policy that would allow a board member to participate in a meeting via electronic means - due to illness or travel or an extraordinary circumstance - if the request was made to the board president three days prior to the meeting.

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