to live’ in Montoursville, Loyalsock Township

By PAT CROSSLEY pcrossley@sungazette.com

The Borough of Montoursville was founded in 1768. It is named for Andrew Montour, a native American guide and interpreter and the son of Madame Montour.

It is bordered on the west by Loyalsock Township, a fierce rival in high school sports and on the east by Fairfield Township.

Small businesses line each side of Broad Street as the main thoroughfare moves through town past the Memorial Gardens near the high school, erected to honor the memory of the students and adults who lost their lives when Flight 800 crashed. It is a solemn testimony to the loss the community faced in 1996.

The population of Montoursville is around 4,700 people.

“There is no yearly count so it’s impossible to say one way or the other about annual changes but given that Montoursville is recognized as a great place to live and raise children, and there is little room for additional growth, it’s probably safe to say that it’s close to the same,” said Steve Bagwell, the borough’s mayor.

“Most houses listed for sale are not on the market long, Montoursville is a very desirable place to live,” he added.

The business community in Montoursville continues to grow. The last few years have seen businesses of all types that Bagwell said “provide a personal touch that Internet companies cannot compete with.”

“Montoursville is very proud of all the generous business owners in our community that help support all of our events and charities,” Bagwell said.

“It’s exciting to see full storefronts and meet the owners who care about the community,” he added.

Two projects in the borough have focused on Indian Park and the Konkle Library, both favorite activities of residents.

“We are excited to be entering the next Phase of our Indian Park Master Plan,” Bagwell said.

“This phase will bring improvements to the Indian Park Southern Playground, removing older playground equipment and constructing a new playground that is ADA compliant, including bike racks, benches and landscaping,” he explained.

In the last year Montoursville has seen the Konkle Library renovated.

It’s not a wonderful, open, and bright area. It’s going to be really exciting to see the new ideas for uses of that facility. The Memorial Gardens are also undergoing a renovation project.

“A special and important part of Montoursville, the Memorial Gardens, will also complete the most important parts of its renovation project soon,” Bagwell said.

There are no new major road projects, he noted.

Just across the bridge from Montoursville, is Loyalsock Township.

In the “The History of Lycoming County, Pennsylvania,” John F. Meginness, editor, stated that Loyalsock Township was originally next to Muncy, the largest township in the county “but was gradually shorn of much of its territory to make room for other townships. Three-quarters of the township was taken for the location of what is now the City of Williamsport.”

The name Loyalsock is taken from the Native American word “Lawi-Saquick” which means middle creek.

Today, the population of the township is just under 12,000 and growing according to Bill Burdett, the township’s business manager.

“We’re just under 12,000 residents–I think 11,700. That seems to be growing according to our school district. They are doing expansions at both Schick Elementary and the high school-middle school. complex because the number of students is growing. So we expect we’ll probably be over 12,000 at the next census,” Burdett said.

With this growth comes the need for more housing.

As senior citizens in the township age, they are opting to move into smaller homes, townhouses and duplexes, which is opening up larger homes for younger families.

“They’re making available the larger three and four bedroom homes for new families, so that’s working out well.” he said.

“We do have some new construction, as far as homes, but right now there’s a shortage of available building lots for people to build new homes,” he stated.

“It’s a pretty vibrant real estate market right now in Loyalsock. When homes go up for sale they sell relatively quickly, which is good if you’re selling but it’s kind of tough for people that want to move to Loyalsock right now. We get calls pretty regularly. I want to build a house but I can’t find a lot. Can you help me? Or it’s just kind of sometimes hard to find a home but there are a couple potential new residential developments on the horizon,” Burdett said.

The township is approximately 21 square miles. Some people associate it with the prosperous East Third Street section known locally as “The Golden Strip” because of the amount of businesses located there.

But, according to Burdett, the township is much more than that small piece of real estate.

“A lot of people drive down Interstate 180, or they drive the Third Street corridor and they think that you know, the Third Street corridor and a residential area very near it is Loyalsock Township. But, Loyalsock extends to the north, several miles. So there still is a lot of woodland and farmland that is just open space–a lot of available land,” he said. “But that doesn’t mean it’s being developed. It’s just that people use it, people own it. So there are people maybe considering some type of development or they’re still working farms that people are farming,” he explained.

Although Loyalsock Township is so much more than it’s business section centered on East Third Street, this part of the township is one of the reasons the tax rate in the township is kept lower than some of the neighboring areas. It also is a drawing card for people who want to settle near restaurants, grocery stores and other amenities.

“You have shopping–numerous grocery stores. Lots of options for shopping. Lots of options for lunch, dinner, breakfast dining out. All close to home so you don’t have to travel too much. If you live here, we have a little bit of everything in our commercial area, which I think makes it nice to live here,” Burdett said.

And new businesses are still coming to the commercial section of the Township, either through new construction or rehabbing existing vacant store fronts.

“Planet Fitness will be moving into the old Kmart building and I think that is being built right now. Of course they’re right next to the new hobby lobby, which just came in,” Burdett said.

The Mexican restaurant, Chipotle opened within the last year, adjacent to the Loyal Plaza and down the street the Texas Roadhouse. Traveling west toward the off-ramp for I-180, Popeyes’ Chicken, another chain restaurant, was added to the list of food establishments in the township. A local business, Don Waltman’s Market House Meats and Deli, opened on Northway Road.

“There are lots of options for shopping. Lots of options for lun, dinner, breakfast, dining out all close to home so you don’t have to travel much,” Burdett said.

“If you live here, we have a little bit of everything in our commercial area, which I think makes it nice to live here,” he added.

Loyalsock Township has about 67 miles of township streets. Over the past two years the gas and water companies have done a lot of improvements and extensions to their lines.

“They dug up a lot of our streets, so we’re going to be repaving all of that in the next two years. There’s going to be a big, big paving contract this year and next year,” Burdett said.

Overall, Burdett feels that the township is a “healthy and growing community.”

“The school district is growing. Our population is growing. We’re in very good financial condition. And you don’t see a lot of vacant buildings in our commercial district. Somebody moves out and in a relatively short amount of time somebody new moves in,’ he said.

“We’ve seen a lot of redevelopment of the Third Street corridor because it was pretty much 100% developed. It’s the same footprint so it’s just people going in and renovating buildings or tearing down and starting over yet, so that’s good growth,” he said. “We are in need of some residential building lots. Most of the developments that exist, are built out or they may have just a couple lots left,” he said.

Other amenities in the township include parks in various areas and a swimming pool that’s just been updated.

“We have a lot of park areas in different neighborhoods throughout the township. We’re currently building the Millers run Greenway Trail, which will connect the majority of our residential areas to the Susquehanna. River Trail. Phase one of that was by the high school and the Rec Center. Phase two which will be built this summer, will be through the Faxon area. And we’re applying for funding for Phase Three which will get us across Third Street and connect that to the Susquehanna Bikeway,” he said.

“It will be a safe way for our residents to access that trail. Crossing Third Street is a real difficult thing to do for walkers. We’re trying to get a designated trail to make that a safe access,” he said.

Right now, Burdett said, someone might live only a half mile from the trail and yet they load their bike onto their car to drive to gain access.

“Better if you could just leave your house and have a safe route to get on the trail. So that’s what we’re working on,” he said.