HEGINS - James Rhoades Jr., environmental group manager at Alfred Benesch & Co., conducted a public meeting Monday at Tri-Valley High School for residents of Hegins and Hubley townships to present the Act 537 plan.
About 100 people attended the meeting in the auditorium.
Rhoades went over the criteria for an Act 537 plan, gave the history of the Hegins-Hubley Act 537 plan and then brought everyone up to date as to where the plan stands now. The original plan was withdrawn from the state Department of Environmental Protection in February when DEP requested that outlying areas be considered for the plan.
After conducting additional field tests by Sewage Enforcement Officer Randy Young, who works for both Hegins and Hubley townships, outlying areas were added to the original plan and include Mountain Road, Fountain and Lamberson in Hegins Township, and Fearnot and East and West Mountain roads in Hubley Township. Rhoades said DEP requested that the townships look into outlying areas because the project qualifies for better funding with higher malfunction rate.
After reviewing the additional tests and adding the outlying areas, Benesch came up with a figure of $72 per month for users of the system, which would include 1757 EDUs. Rhoades said DEP and PENNVEST consider this affordable and on target. He said anything higher would not be acceptable by DEP.
Rhoades said the affordability criteria is based on the median household income from the 2010 census. He said the MHI for Hegins Township is $58,616; Hubley Township is $47,188; Schuylkill County is $44,150 and Pennsylvania is $51,651. DEP and PENNVEST said 1.5 percent of MHI is $71 and they consider that to be an affordable rate.
After looking at all the data, Benesch recommended both Hegins and Hubley township supervisors to go with site 6 - Masser Farms property on Fearnot Road - and to include the outlying areas.
Rhoades said site 6 is the least costly with a total of $29.6 million, there are no NIMBY, or not in my backyard, issues; has three-phase power, minimal site constraints; there has land available for future expansion; gives the highest DEP malfunction system rating; and has a stream to receive the waste directly across from the plant.
According to Rhoades, by choosing site 6, 80 percent of the malfunction will be taken care of and the remaining areas will be monitored by an on-lot sewage management system and inspection requirements.
The tapping fee will be $1,500.
Rhoades said a joint project get only borrow $20 million from PENNVEST and the remaining $9.6 million will be through a USDA 30-year loan.
"There are no grants included in this assessment," Rhoades said. "We can't estimate if grants will be received or not. If grants are received the monthly user rate will be lowered."
Rhoades said that the joint plan will cost the users $72 per month, where if Hegins Township would do an Act 537 plan alone, the users would be looking at costs of $90 per month.
The benefits of a joint plan are the financing through PENNVEST and DEP rating, improved environmental conditions in the valley and the avoidance of DEP enforcement action.
"Hubley Township brings better funding to the table," Rhoades said.
Benesch also recommends that Hegins-Hubley Authority take over operations and maintain the new system when it's in place.
Rhoades presented the timeline for the project:
- Submit final plan in January
- Receive DEP approval and start the design phase in summer 2014
- Permits and approvals in 2015
- Funding bids in the winter of 2015
- Construction to begin in the spring of 2016 and end construction in the summer of 2017.
Rhoades reassured the public that they will receive additional information. He said the authority is willing to have open meetings during the project.
Then, Rhoades opened the floor to public comments. He said that all comments were being recorded and would be addressed and included with the plan. He also noted that comments can be received in writing until Jan. 11.
A Hubley Township resident from Mountain Road expressed his concern in regards to the hidden costs. He wanted residents to know that the $1,500 is only the tapping fee or privilege fee to hook up. He said there will be additional costs involved with the plumbing and the line installation. He also said it doesn't make sense and he doesn't feel it's cost effective to run that much pipe on Mountain Road for only a few houses.
Rhoades said that is true, there will be more expense for the homeowner.
Fred Bowman, Valley View, expressed his concern with PENNVEST funding. He asked if there is a guarantee that the PENNVEST rate will be 1 percent because he said he had experienced issues with PENNVEST in the past.
Rhoades said as far as he knows there is no variable rate.
Valley View resident Roger Wetzel said he feels the people living in the outlying areas have higher median incomes then the core area of the project and he believes that should be taken into consideration. He said the people living directly in Hegins and Valley View aren't going to be able to afford this and he believes it will be a burden for them. He also asked why the plan that was constructed several years ago in regards to sewer was never submitted to DEP.
Rhoades said the plan was never submitted and commented no further on the issue.
Todd Daubenspeck, Hegins, requested Rhoades to provide specific figures as to what the costs would be for Hegins to do a sewer project on their own. Rhoades referred back to the power point screen where it showed the cost of $72 per month for joint and $90 per month for Hegins. Daubenspeck said he was requesting specific costs, not the monthly rate. Rhoades said he didn't have those figures on the top of his head.
Later, Daubenspeck addressed Rhoades again.
"Now that we have danced all over the dance floor can you please provide us with the cost of the project for Hegins alone?" Daubenspeck asked.
Rhoades said the projected cost for Hegins alone would be $22 milion and the monthly cost would be $90 per month.
"How many times has DEP come in with storm troopers and took over a township and forced them to do anything?" Daubenspeck asked. "We need to stop being threatened by this right now."
"We don't come in with troopers," Darryl Fritz, from DEP's regional office in Wilkes-Barre, said. "We issue consent orders which the township must follow."
Rhoades said he has been involved in several projects over the years where DEP has issued consent orders. He said it's best to devise a plan on your own without DEP telling you what to do.
Hegins Township resident Leon Maurer again expressed his concern that the taxpayers of Hegins Township would like to see the question on the spring ballot as to whether to do the project alone or together with Hubley. He asked that no decision be made on this plan until at least June 2014 so that the taxpayers can decide. The township supervisors are scheduled to make a decision in January as to whether or not it gets placed on the ballot.
Larry Umholtz, Fountain, asked if the public comment portion of the meeting could actually make a difference and if there would be any chance of changing the plan.
Rhoades said all comments will be compiled and reviewed and he said after review it could result in some outlying areas being removed from the plan. He said all comments will be reviewed and considered.