HOLLIDAYSBURG — Gays­port residents may finally get relief from flooding issues now that Hollidaysburg Borough has been awarded $690,000 in grants for stormwater projects.

The borough plans to use part of the grant money to buy 7.8 acres of the 68-acre Stowell Farm in Gaysport to construct a stormwater facility that would mitigate decadeslong flooding issues.

The borough entered into a purchase agreement with the landowner, BC Holdings, for $110,760, which was set to expire Dec. 31, 2023. Because the borough was awaiting word on the grants, council sought and approved a June 30 extension of the purchase agreement.

The grants were awarded in late December, after the extension was approved.

During council’s Tuesday meeting, Borough Secretary Patricia Duron said, with the money in-hand, Keller Engineers “is working on the subdivision plan for the properties.”

“The engineers have said they’re already in the process of collecting that money and already putting bids out there,” council member Brady Leahey said. “So, it is an ongoing but moving project.”

When asked if the project cost had changed, Borough Solicitor Nathan Karn said it was his understanding that what the borough received was a “two-thirds, one-third match grant” so the borough was “always going to fund the difference.”

“Let’s just say for this conversation today that (the project total) is $1.2 million,” Karn said. “The original million included the purchase price for the land. So when you talk about using the grant money, you’re always going to be spending some of your own money and there is going to be an overage over what they originally estimated.”

While Karn couldn’t give an exact dollar amount on how much the project would cost due to inflation, he did say it would be “in the ballpark of one million.”

A public hearing regarding the rezoning of Stowell Farm is scheduled for Jan. 11. Not only will the hearing cover rezoning for the stormwater project, but it will also cover the rezoning request brought by developer Jeff Long, with Jeff S. Long Construction. Long wants to buy 31 acres of the farm to build 75 single-story rental cottages and a retention pond.

Stowell Farm is currently zoned as Traditional Neighborhood Development. For Long’s project to move forward, the property would need to be rezoned to R2 (General Residential). The borough’s stormwater facility could be built in either kind of zoning.

Blair County Planning Commission previously recommended against Long’s rezoning request.

Further complicating matters is the borough manager position that was left vacant by the resignation of James Gehret. Gehret, who also was the borough’s finance director, had been the person who sought the stormwater grant. Borough officials are now trying to sort out the proposal and said a priority is to find an interim manager, then a finance director. Gehret has agreed to stay on as an interim finance director as council works to fill his position.

Council discussed reaching out to department heads or retired business managers in the area to fill in as the interim business manager until someone could be hired for the position. They agreed to hold an executive session on the matter prior to the 7 p.m. public hearing on Jan. 11 so that the borough wouldn’t go into February without an interim manager.

In other matters, police Chief Christopher Storm reported that there were 4,561 calls for service in 2023 compared to 3,737 in 2022.

“That’s an increase of 824 calls for service last year,” Storm said.

Also during the reorganizational meeting, council appointed Ward 4 Representative Sean Burke as president and reappointed Ward 2 Representative Brady Leahey as vice president.

Mirror Staff Writer Rachel Foor is at 814-946-7458.