Newtown Township Municipal Authority September3rd Meeting Update

It’s Back to School and back to updates about Newtown Township starting with an update of the Newtown Township Municipal Authority meeting.

This update will focus on a topic that Regi Siberski, most informed and involved resident, brought up again at the meeting.  Regi pointed out the importance of good communication.  She pointed out the need for better communication between the Municipal Authority and the Township.  This meeting, while providing some updates of ongoing development projects that involve the Municipal Authority provided little, if any, update of sewage facilities and/or sewage facilities planning issues of interest to specific residents.  For those answers, Chairman Joe Sweeney with his continued impatient responses made it clear that the Municipal Authority has no answer. And the rest of the attending Municipal Authority Board members, Jack DiPompeo, Mark Kay and Linda Gabell sat by and offered no response to Regi’s questions and concern. 

We learned from the Municipal Authority Engineer that the Rite-Aid project’s sewage facilities are good to go. We learned that Panera Bread has approval for its sewage facilities but there is some question about whether the yogurt shop proposed in the shopping center was approved along with Panera Bread.  We learned that Bentley got approval to connect the Dunminning lot they purchased without requiring the same approvals that other individual development projects required. We don’t know why Bentley was given this approval.  We learned that the sewer line being installed along Route 252, including the steel panels in the road, is not proposed to be complete until December 2013. 

We didn’t learn why Bentley got this approval when others, including builders on Timber Lane and Northwoods Road, were recently required to seek additional approvals for sewer connection. Curiously, no one on the Municipal Authority questioned this approval.  We didn’t learn why the residents of Timber Lane have also been told if they want to connect, they will need to seek multiple approvals.  We did not learn anything about the status of the Township’s 537 plan approval,a plan that proposes public sewers for many areas of the township.  And, although the Township, having finally taken responsibility for planning, did send the plan to the Department of Environmental Protection, it seems reasonable that the Municipal Authority, given they would be responsible for construction, would be apprised of the status of this plan and could offer information to residents attending the meeting.

We didn’t learn why Mr. Gentile having apparently just learned that he should have previously contacted the Municipal Authority was not given information at the township when he first sought permits for remodeling of the former Napa auto parts store on route 252 which he now owns. Seems he was not told that he may require sewage facilities approval before having his tenant move into the building.  This is because the building is not being used in the same way it had in the past.  We didn’t learn why new businesses, which may change the way in which a building is used, which Jack DiPompeo pointed out with the current change at the previously Wallace Jewelry store, haven’t been told to seek information from the Municipal Authority concerning their sewage facilities before they open.

Once again, Regi is right. There needs to be better communication between the Municipal Authority and the Township. There needs to be better communication between the Municipal Authority and residents.  When will this lesson be learned?