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Council debates $85,000 downtown-plan request; library seeks $200,000 to complete capital campaign
Summary
Council questioned an $85,000 downtown master-plan request and asked staff to consider scaling it back until key property and right-of-way outcomes are known. Venture Lititz and the borough’s library also discussed recent donations and a capital gap of about $200,000 for the library’s building project.
Council discussed a proposed $85,000 downtown-plan implementation budget line that the planning commission requested for 2026. Mary (speaker 4) and other council members questioned whether the borough should move forward with a full $85,000 visioning study now or scale it back, with planning staff recommending pausing major vision work until two key items are known: the Norfolk Southern right-of-way outcome and the identity and intentions of any buyer for the mill building.
Planning staff (Elijah, speaker 3) said both those items should be clearer in 2026 and cautioned that a full visioning exercise could be “taking shots in the dark” if the properties and right-of-way status remain unsettled. Several council members recommended scaling or postponing the $85,000 request and asked the planning commission to sketch scenarios and a revised ask if needed.
Separately, Venture Lititz representative Jane Smith (speaker 9) explained last year’s $15,000 line: the group returned funds and redirected them to entities that had supported Venture Lititz activities rather than simply returning the money to the borough’s general fund. Council asked Venture Lititz to appear at a future meeting if needed.
Carolyn (speaker 12), representing the library, told council the capital campaign had raised about $1.31 million toward a $1.5 million goal and that the borough’s possible contribution of $1 per capita over three years would close part of the gap (Council estimated the dollar impact as roughly multiple thousands annually based on borough population). Council agreed to place the request on the finance committee agenda for further review before the Nov. 25 advertising step.
