Gravity Sewer Approved For All of Echo Valley

The Newtown Township Board of Supervisors approved the neighborhood of Echo Valley to run on a gravity sewer system in the proposed Act 537 Sewage Facilities Plan.

NEWTOWN SQUARE–A decision was finally made at Monday night's Newtown Township Board of Supervisors meeting on the fate of the sewer system proposed in the Echo Valley section of Newtown Township. Supervisors unanimously approved to move forward with the Act 537 Sewage Facilities Plan that will include Echo Valley running on a gravity sewer system. James MacCombie, township sewer engineer on the project, orginally proposed the $25 million Act 537 Plan to have 112 Echo Valley homes serviced by a low-pressure sewer system and only a handful with a gravity sewer system.  MacCombie initially recommended a low-pressure system in the Echo Valley neighborhood primarily due to environmental constraints, the way the homes were located, and the most-…

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Decision on Act 537 Plan Postponed By Supervisors at Special Meeting

No action was taken at Monday night's special Newtown Township Act 537 Plan 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…

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No Action To Be Taken on Act 537 Plan Thursday

Newtown Township has announced they will not vote on the Act 537 Plan at a special public meeting on Thursday, Dec. 27.

NEWTOWN SQUARE–According to Newtown Township's website, the Newtown Township Board of Supervisors will not be taking action at the Dec. 27th public meeting on the Act 537 Plan. According to the website, the announcement was posted on Dec. 21 and further stated: "The Board will take additional public comment only at that time." Supervisors had initially scheduled to vote on the Act 537 Plan at Thursday's meeting. However, after the urging of several residents to reconsider the vote at a Dec. 12th meeting, a confirmation was not given on whether the vote would actually happen at Thursday's meeting. A couple of the reasons why the township had hoped for a decision at the Dec. 27th meeting included a $250/day fine if not met by PennDOT's …

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Letters to the Editor

Letter to the Editor: I Speak For the Trees In Regards to The ACT 537 Plan

The following Letter to the Editor was submitted by a Newtown Square resident in regards to Newtown Township's proposed Act 537 Plan.

The following Letter to the Editor was submitted by a Newtown Square resident in regards to Newtown Township's proposed Act 537 Plan: The installation of public sewers in Newtown Square is finally coming to a head. A public hearing on this matter is scheduled for Dec. 27. The Board of Supervisors did not allow for public questions, a seemingly unbreakable bad habit of theirs, at a supervisors meeting on Monday, Dec. 10. Therefore, it is safe to assume that the public will have much to say to them at the hearing. I find it ironic that these are our sewers, our elected board of supervisors and it will be our hearing, yet, the board is not interested in hearing our voices. A planning meeting was held on Thursday, Dec. 13, regarding Act 537. …

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Engineer Gives More Details on Newtown Sewer Plan

James MacCombie presented to the Newtown Township supervisors and the public with updated details on the Act. 537 Plan.

NEWTOWN SQUARE–James MacCombie, Newtown Township's sanitary sewer enforcement officer, of Herbert E. MacCombie Jr., P.E., Consulting Engineers and Surveyors, Inc., presented to the Board of Supervisors and the public with a second public presentation of the Act 537 Plan on Monday night. MacCombie stressed that the plan is "fluid" and "not a final document." MacCombie said they are open for comments from the public. MacCombie received approximately 69 questions on the Act 537 Plan from residents during the public review period last month.  What's Proposed in the Plan: East vs. West The eastern area in the township will be serviced by a pump station located at the formerly known Ashford site, now Toll Brothers' location for luxury homes, …

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Episcopal Academy Gets OK On Steep Slope Conditional Use For Sewer Main

The Newtown Township Board of Supervisors approved The Episcopal Academy's conditional use application to install a sewer main on areas of steep slope from the school's campus to the Ashford site.

NEWTOWN SQUARE–The Newtown Township Board of Supervisors voted 4-1 on Monday night in favor of The Episcopal Academy's request for a conditional use approval to install a sanitary sewer main on disturbed areas of steep slope within an easement on the Ashford Land Company , L.P., site in Newtown Square. The application was approved by the supervisors with conditions made upon the township's Planning Commission as well as upon language of how to handle the trees on the school's campus that will be demolished during the installation of the sewer main. Supervisors Vice Chairman Dr. Ross Lambert shared his concerns of what the replacement policy would be for the destroyed trees once the construction begins for the installation of the water main…

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Episcopal Academy Moves Ahead With Sewer Project

Newtown Township Zoning Hearing Board granted approval for Episcopal Academy's special exception to construct a sanitary sewer force main through a floodplain on Dec. 15 with conditions on approval by the township, county and state.

NEWTOWN SQUARE–Members of Newtown Township's Zoning Hearing Board voted unanimously on Dec. 15 to move forward with Episcopal Academy's application to construct a sanitary sewer force main through a flood hazard district in the township to provide a public sanitary sewer service to the school. The school, located on 1785 Bishop White Drive, off of Newtown Street Road/Route 252, sought to seek a special exception, the first step of many approvals for the project, on Thursday night's meeting to construct a sewer line through the southern part of their property, owned by Ashford Land Co. L.P. "Episcopal Academy has been handling the sanitary sewage for the campus by pump and haul since they opened in August of 2008," explained Donald Petrosa…

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Ashford Planning Module Gets Final Go-Ahead By Supervisors

Newtown Board of Supervisors approved the final draft of the Ashford cluster development plan for the Department of Environmental Protection's approval at a meeting on Sept. 26.

NEWTOWN SQUARE–The Rouse Group/Ashford Land Company sought final approval from the Newtown Board of Supervisors at a meeting on Monday evening for their Ashford cluster development planning module. The board unanimously approved the final draft of the 449-unit, sub-division cluster development of single-family homes located at the former John duPont estate and Biddle Farm off of Route 252/Newtown Street Road. The plan will now be sent to the Department of Environmental Protection (DEP) for their approval. At a meeting in June, Tina Makoulian, a representative for The Rouse Group, said the plan was getting down to the fine details. Since then, Makoulian said DEP returned an earlier submission of their plan for administrative and technical …

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Upper Providence Sells Sewer Capacity to Newtown Township

The township will sell 103,000 gallons of capacity that according to Upper Providence Township Engineer James Kelly, it will not need in the foreseeable future.

MEDIA–A resolution to sell 103,000 gallons of Upper Providence's sewer capacity to Newtown Township was passed unanimously last Thursday evening. "Newtown is in dire need of capacity," Upper Providence Township Engineer James Kelly said. "We feel comfortable that we can let them have that [capacity] because our measured flows are being reduced as we speak because with the new system we're putting in, we're well below the standard acceptable rates." Upper Providence Township has more than 400,000 gallons of capacity, Kelly said. The township will sell Newtown Township the 103,000 gallons of capacity at the rate Upper Providence paid for the capacity initially. Newtown, who is currently working on their comprehensive plan and working on a …

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Patti Wilson

10:27 am on Friday, August 19, 2011

Newtown Township's Plan: "Indeed, it must be said that we were left with the impression during these proceedings that the Township had something less than a firm grasp on what it was committing to even at the time of the Resolution. When Township witnesses were pushed on whether a certain area would be sewered, answers tended to be vague and nonresponsive. (See, e.g., T. 86-88, 181-83, 292-93.) …   more ›

Jackson Holds Separate Meeting For Sewers

Former Municipal Authority Chairman Bob Jackson invited residents in Newtown to attend his meeting on sewers on July 21.

NEWTOWN SQUARE–"I'm not here to criticize the township. I'm not here to grind any axe," stated former Newtown Municipal Authority Chairman Bob Jackson at the beginning of his meeting on July 21. "But the project that was ready to go has been short-circuited." The project Jackson referred to was the latest version of the Act 537 Plan involving two special studies for Echo Valley and Florida Park sewage plans. At the last Planning Commission meeting in June, Jackson and Kevin Matson, the municipal authority engineer, sought the approval for both the special studies and two planning modules for the Olde Masters golf course and the Marville site, in which they only approved the Echo Valley special study. "I would've approve both the Echo …

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