Decision on Act 537 Plan Postponed By Supervisors at Special Meeting

NEWTOWN SQUARE–A four-hour special meeting between the residents of Newtown Township, the Board of Supervisors, and township sewer engineers James MacCombie and David Porter resulted in the postponement of a decision to be made on the township's Act 537 Sewage Facilicities Plan.

The special Act 537 Plan meeting brought out a concerned crowd of Newtown Township residents that filled the Marple Newtown School Board meeting room to the brim on Monday night.

Many residents spoke in regards to the plan for Echo Valley, Springton Pointe Estates, and Springton Pointe Woods.

Residents along Camelot Lane requested the supervisors to commit to moving the pump station as far away as possible from residents as possible that will be environmentally and financially feasible. In addition, Springton Pointe Woods residents submitted two alternative plans to consider instead of the current plan as recommended by MacCombie.

Currently in the proposed $25 million Act 537 Plan, as drafted by MacCombie, approximately 112 Echo Valley homes will be serviced by a low-pressure sewer system and only a handful with a gravity sewer system. .

Michael Russo, a resident on Crum Creek Lane, commented that the residents in Echo Valley will be paying the sewer rates just like everyone else included in the plan but will pay more for electricity and maintenance.

"These are all family homes–there are not a lot of single people in Echo Valley and the power goes out very frequently in Echo Valley," said Russo. "So if we have a problem where we don't have utilities and we have this pump, so we've now increased our costs just to save money for everybody else which, again, is not fair. It's just not fair. And if you have the ability to do it, gravity system is just the best way to go long-term for everybody because the power is not going to get cheaper. It's going to get more expensive over time."

Chris Mcconaghy, of Echo Valley Lane, also shared the same sentiments. "What you're doing is putting that portion of Echo Valley [section proposed for low-pressure] on par with everybody else," said Mcconaghy about getting all of Echo Valley on a gravity system. "We're subsidizing basically everybody else at that point by having low-pressure. By moving us up to gravity, we are now on par with everybody else. Everybody will now be basically paying the same amount for getting the same type of system that you can have."

However, Paul Guest, of Crum Creek Lane, shared the opposite view and believed the low-pressure system would be the most "feasible" and would have the least amount of environmental impacts on the neighborhood, particularly between the properties of Crum Creek Lane and Battles Lane where the sewer pipe is proposed to be placed.

"I think it is much more feasible and makes much more sense, if any consideration is being given to the inequity that does exist in Echo Valley that the solution to that is money, or the first grinder pump to the program rather than decimating that area putting that gravity to save some money," said Guest. 

Another resident, Jim Curcio, of Battles Lane, also shared having a low-pressure system for the portion designated to Echo Valley is a "sacrifice of the fewer for the gain of the many." Curcio said he's not happy with the pumps or the electrical hook-ups but "if I had to vote, I would like to see the township go low-pressure and provide that first pump to help even things out for Echo Valley."

According to MacCombie, having all of Echo Valley on a gravity sewer system or only part of the Echo Valley neighborhood on gravity are possible. However, having all of Echo Valley on a gravity system would increase the overall project cost to $27.5 million. In addition, MacCombie stated that there is more "environmental interaction" with a gravity system.

"It's a possibility to do it [Echo Valley all on gravity], but from an engineering standpoint you would have to weigh the environmental concerns that were raised," shared MacCombie to the supervisors. "But if it was my house, I would want gravity. I wouldn't want a pump."

Supervisors Chairman Joe Catania raised the motion to table the decision on the Act 537 Plan and to do a walk-through of the Echo Valley homes this week with residents and township officials that would be directly impacted by the proposed idea of having all of Echo Valley on a gravity sewer system. The motion passed 3-1 with Supervisor John Nawn holding the lone nay. Supervisor George Wood was absent from the meeting.

Supervisors decided to postpone approving the Act 537 Plan to the following Monday's meeting on Feb. 11 at 7:30 p.m. in the Newtown Township municipal building. A deferment ordinance is also scheduled to be approved as well as considering an exemption from the plan on the historic William Lewis property on Goshen Road on Monday night.