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SUMMIT TWP \u2014 Despite receiving approval from the state Department of Environmental Protection for a sewer plan for Summit Township, the sewer authority decided to contact the department to consider its options after concerns over affordability mounted.<\/p>\n
Summit Township Sewer Authority voted 2-2 Monday evening, Oct. 12, on the issue of submitting a responsibility letter to request funding from PENNVEST.<\/p>\n
PENNVEST is a state financing authority that provides low-cost financial assistance through grants or loans for projects like sewer systems.<\/p>\n
While the vote on the resolution to apply passed, the motion to submit the responsibility letter \u2014 a necessary part of the process \u2014 tied. As a result of a tie, the motion failed.<\/p>\n
While solicitor Mike Gallagher was not present at the meeting, township secretary Roxann Stickney contacted him during it to ask for next steps following the vote. He advised the board they would need to contact the state\u2019s Department of Environmental Protection.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe\u2019re going to have to tell the DEP that we don\u2019t want this, we\u2019re not doing this and we want to discuss options,\u201d Stickney said of the substance of Gallagher\u2019s communication.<\/p>\n
The authority was seeking funding through PENNVEST and other sources for the first phase of a $22 million project that already received DEP approval. Each phase was estimated to cost $11 million.<\/p>\n
According to estimates from LSSE, the authority\u2019s engineer, the cost of the project per equivalent dwelling unit varied depending on the amount of funding the project could receive and whether that funding was through grants or loans. On the high end, it could have cost each EDU as much as $235 a month.<\/p>\n
Monday\u2019s meeting attracted many residents asking questions or recommending the authority\u2019s board reconsider the plan due to affordability concerns. Even if PENNVEST covered 100% of the sewer system\u2019s cost, some residents expressed concerns around tap-in fees and the cost of removing their septic systems.<\/p>\n
David Barry, Authority board member, who voted in favor of applying, said before the vote he was hoping to get a number from PENNVEST so they can calculate the cost for the residents. He promised residents he would not support something he considered unaffordable.<\/p>\n
\u201cIf they come back and say, \u2018We\u2019re going to give you a 50% grant and 50% loan,\u2019 we\u2019re going to say that we can\u2019t afford this job. But we have to do this. We have to apply to it to find out if they\u2019re going to give us the money and how they\u2019re going to give it to us. If we can\u2019t afford it, then we can go back to the DEP and say we can\u2019t afford this system,\u201d he said before the vote.<\/p>\n
The two board members who rejected the vote, Brad Badali and Chad Spohn, argued the current $22 million plan would not result in a feasible cost regardless of the form of funding.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe\u2019re getting this illusion that we\u2019re going to make it affordable and it\u2019s not going to be,\u201d Badali said.<\/p>\n
Stickney said she would contact the DEP and schedule a meeting before the next sewer authority meeting set for 7 p.m. Tuesday, Oct. 27.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"SUMMIT TWP \u2014 Despite receiving approval from the state Department of Environmental Protection for a sewer plan for…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":306513,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[12],"tags":[3035,3027,3022,3042,3048,3051,1610,3030,3028,31,3029,3034,3025,136,138,137,3047,3041,3024,3045,3033,3023,3036,182,3049,3039,139,3026,28,3040,39,3031,3044,3043,3032,3050,3038,3037,3046],"class_list":["post-306512","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-erie","tag-bruin","tag-butler","tag-butler-eagle","tag-cabot","tag-callery","tag-cherry-valley","tag-community-news","tag-connoquenessing","tag-cranberry","tag-crime","tag-east-butler","tag-eau-claire","tag-education-news","tag-erie","tag-erie-headlines","tag-erie-news","tag-evans-city","tag-fairview","tag-government-news","tag-harmony","tag-harrisville","tag-high-school-sports-news","tag-karns-city","tag-local-news","tag-mars","tag-mount-chesnut","tag-news","tag-obituaries","tag-pennsylvania","tag-petrolia","tag-political-news","tag-portersville","tag-sarver","tag-saxonburg","tag-slippery-rock","tag-valencia","tag-west-liberty","tag-west-sunbury","tag-zelienople"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/306512","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=306512"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/306512\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/306513"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=306512"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=306512"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=306512"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}