Lewisburg advances solar plans for public works garage
Lewisburg approved $19,500 for solar design plans at its public works garage, backed by a $56,000 state grant that would pay most of the planning bill.
Lewisburg Borough Council moved the public works garage solar project out of the concept stage and into engineering, approving $19,500 for design plans and construction documents for the building at 115 N. Fifth St. The work went to Marotta/Main Architects of Sunbury, giving the borough a clearer path to price and permit a project that could eventually trim utility costs if it reaches construction.
Council Vice President Jordi Comas called it “a great project,” a sign that at least some borough leaders see the proposal as more than a paper exercise. The preliminary bill is expected to be covered mostly by a $56,000 Municipal Opportunities for Retrofits and Energy Efficiency grant administered through the Pennsylvania Energy Development Authority, so the borough is not paying the design tab entirely from local funds.
Borough grant manager Shannon Berkey said the MORE grant made it possible for Lewisburg to complete a Level 2 energy audit, which identified several possible upgrades, including solar at the public works facility. Berkey said the remaining grant money could be used to engineer one of the recommended projects. Borough Manager Bill Lowthert added a practical detail that matters for taxpayers and for execution: the roof at the public works building has already been reinforced to support solar panels.
The council action did not commit the borough to the full installation, but it does show the project has advanced beyond general discussion. Borough records show a potential solar installation project at the Public Works Complex on North Fifth Street was already on the agenda in December 2025, and a May 2025 committee agenda referred to a separate solar-related schematic development effort involving a three-sided shed at the Public Works Complex and a vehicle cover at the Borough Office, both designed for solar panels. The June 16 council draft agenda then spelled out the exact motion to approve the Marotta/Main Architects proposal for the Public Works Complex Solar Installation Project.
That sequence suggests Lewisburg is testing whether solar belongs in a broader municipal cost-cutting strategy, not just at one garage. The same meeting also dealt with stormwater ordinance revisions, flood-resiliency grant support, a parking ordinance change, and a planning commission resignation, underscoring how the borough is balancing immediate operations with longer-term capital planning. Mayor Kendy Alvarez’s scheduled trip to Philadelphia for the “We the People 250: Mayors Celebrate America” event, with expenses capped at $2,000, added to the evening’s long municipal agenda.
Lewisburg’s historic district, created in 1985 and containing 871 contributing buildings, structures and sites, gives the borough an added reason to move carefully as it modernizes. The solar plans now advance with a reinforced roof, outside grant support and a clearer engineering path, but the larger question remains whether the garage project becomes a one-off upgrade or the first step in a broader effort to lower borough utility bills.
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