Lewisburg amends ordinance to increases permit threshold for gatherings

Justin Strawser, The Daily Item, Sunbury, Pa.
·3 min read

May 22—LEWISBURG — Lewisburg Borough will require permits for gatherings of more than 50 people as part of an amended controversial social gathering ordinance.

At Tuesday night's public meeting, borough council members voted to amend the social gathering ordinance, increasing the requirement to seek a permit from 25 people to 50. The amended ordinance also eliminates requirements to provide portable toilets for parties with more than 100 people as well as removing the prohibition of glass containers and bottles.

"The biggest change is the number of people who trigger the requirement," Council President David Heayn said. "We lowered it (in 2020) from 75 to 25 due to social gathering restrictions and kept it there through the pandemic. This returns it to a higher number."

Many of the housing units for students are historic, so having gatherings with 75 to 100 people may be a safety issue for the floors. It is also a resource allocation issue for police, Heayn said.

The ordinance was passed on June 17, 2014, to "regulate and control overcrowded social parties on private property involving underage drinking, public disturbances and environmental disruptions," according to the amendment.

The ordinance requires residents to seek a permit application at a fee of $40. All regulated social gatherings shall be scheduled after 10 a.m. and end by 1 a.m.

Any person violating the ordinance may be subject to a summary fine of $300 to $1,000, according to the amendment.

Last year, representatives of the American Civil Liberties Union sent a letter to Lewisburg about a now-scrapped amendment that had a "highly invasive new inspection requirement" as a condition for hosting a private gathering. Despite the amendment being abandoned, ACLU still encouraged the borough to rescind the existing ordinance, standing by its opinion that the existing ordinance violates free association, privacy, and due process protections guaranteed by the U.S. and Pennsylvania constitutions.

In unrelated business, the borough will request that Union County on behalf of Lewisburg submit an application for $107,446 to the Pennsylvania Department of Community and Economic Development for the 2024 Community Development Block Grant (CDBG) Entitlement funding. The funding is for the installation of sidewalks at the Lewisburg Borough Owned Community Garden Property on North Water Street.

The borough approved a 2021 and 2022 CDBG subrecipient agreement between Lewisburg Borough and Union County associated with the Limestone Run Flood Resiliency Project. The borough rejected a bid from Mark Cromley Excavating as not compliant with project bid documents and accepted the lowest compliant bid from Dave Gutelius Excavating Inc. for $37,125 for earth moving services associated with the CDBG-funded Limestone Run Flood Resiliency Project.

The borough also approved the following:

A change order for $5,060 for the Piers Art Park Project from PennCore Consulting LLC for additional engineering expenses associated with changes to the stormwater pipe crossing at the railroad tracks.

A change order reducing the amount by $1,072 from Big Rock Paving LLC for changes in stormwater management pipe size due to utility conflicts.

Submitting an application to the Commonwealth Financing Agency's Greenways, Trails, and Recreation Program Grant for trail lighting along the internal trail in the Piers Art Park and along the borough-owned section of the Mixed Use Path between Market Street and the Union County Trail Authority-owned Buffalo Valley Rail Trail.

The $267,445 purchase of a new refuse truck via COSTAR contracts from A&H Equipment Company — $136,318 for the load area — and Ecks Garage — $131,127 for the chassis — with expected delivery in early 2026 to be paid from the Refuse Equipment Depreciation fund.