EAST
BRANDYWINE
TOWNSHIP
MUNICIPAL AUTHORITY
Tuesday,
May 11, 2004
7:30 AM
Those
in Attendance:
Michael Corbin
, Chairman
Gerald
Kirkpatrick, Vice-Chairman
Sandra Moser
, Member
John Spangler
, Municipal Authority
Solicitor
Joseph Boldaz
, Municipal Authority
Engineer
Scott T. Piersol
, Township Manager
Mary
Beth Smedley, Secretary/Treasurer
Absent:
Joseph Anthony
, Secretary
David
Summers, Treasurer
The Municipal Authority met on
Tuesday, May 11, 2004
. Also in
attendance were
Scott T. Piersol
, Township Manager;
Brown, Municipal Authority Engineer;
Joseph Boldaz
, Municipal Authority
Engineer; and Mary Beth Smedley, Secretary/Treasurer
Mr.
Corbin called the meeting to order at
7:35 A.M.
Minutes:
April
13, 2004
Approval
of the
April 13, 2004
Municipal Authority Minutes was deferred until the
June 8, 2004
meeting.
Keats
Glen/DCCC
Dedication
Agreement - Mr. Spangler stated the Dedication Agreement has been signed by
Southdown Homes and appears to be in order.
He tried to reach both Jim Flick, Attorney for the Community College and
John Glavin, Acting Vice President for Administration yesterday, but wasn’t
able to reach either of them. Mr.
Spangler stated that he is fairly certain they do not have a problem with the
Agreement, and went on to recommend that the Municipal Authority sign the
document, along with the Declaration of Easements.
The Board of Supervisors will also need to sign the Agreement.
Final adoption of the Agreement is contingent upon approval of the
Pennsylvania Department of Education.
The Community College will also send a signed copy of the sewer plant
easements for the Township’s records. After
review, Mr. Kirkpatrick made a motion to approve signing the Dedication
Agreement for the Keats Glen Wastewater Treatment System and the Declaration of
Easement documents. Mrs. Moser
seconded the motion, with all voting Aye. Mr. Corbin thanked all those involved,
particularly Mr. Spangler and Mr. Brown, for their hard work in moving the
process along quickly and smoothly.
Treatment
Plant Operation – Mr. Piersol stated that he received another proposal, from
Clean Water, Inc. for operation of the Wastewater Treatment Plant.
Since the proposal did not include chemicals or sludge removal, it will
need to be updated in order compare it to the services that can be provided by
TMH or Severn Trent. Mr. Corbin
cautioned that we should be very careful before we consider a change in the
treatment plant operator. Since this
plan uses a relatively new technology, we should look for a very experienced
operator. Mr. Piersol stated that
Clean Water comes highly recommended; they have operated
Wallace
Township
’s treatment plants for several years, and they are very satisfied
with the service provided. Mr.
Piersol will look into obtaining additional references from Clean Water.
Hide-A-Way
Farms
Sewer
Improvement Construction Agreement and Escrow Agreement – Mr. Rountree
provided copies of the Agreement, minus the attachment for the Municipal
Authority to review. He stated that
the final draft has incorporated comments from the Municipal Authority and
Township Engineer, Joe Boldaz. Mr.
Corbin stated he would like the Township Solicitor, Engineer and Municipal
Authority to look at the complete document, along with the exhibits, one more
time before action is taken. He
asked Mr. Rountree to attend the next Municipal Authority meeting to finalize
these documents.
Culvert
Replacement – Mrs. Moser stated that she would like Mr. Boldaz to check the
April 26th letter from DelVal Soil and Environmental Consultants, Inc. for
accuracy. She would like to make
sure that the General Information Form submitted to DEP, particularly the land
use information, is correct. There
is a question as to whether the information provided pertains to the entire
project, or just the culvert. Mr.
Piersol and Mr. Boldaz will review the information submitted to DEP and report
their findings to the Municipal Authority.
Disposal
Beds - Mr. Rountree stated that DEP is requiring Wilkinson Builders to install 8
subsurface disposal beds on the Hide-A-Way Farms property.
He went on to say that Wilkinson Builders has agreed to install the 8
beds, and the applicant will lose
2 to 4
lots in the process. The Municipal
Authority asked if all beds have to be used.
Mr. Rountree wasn’t sure, but did say that all beds will be operational
at completion of the development.
Guthriesville
Sewer District
Dedication - Mr. Piersol stated there is still a long
punch list of items that are being resolved.
Steve Gallo from Rouse/Chamberlin is working on resolving these items
since they would like to offer Phase I of the development for Dedication.
Phase I includes the pump station on
Bondsville Road
and is being operated
by Severn Trent.
McCue Easement
Update
Mr. Spangler contacted John Kiefel, the McCue’s
attorney about signing the easement document.
Mr. Kiefel agrees the documents are in order, but it is up to his clients
to sign the document.
Brandywine
Wallace
Elementary School
The
Municipal Authority discussed their concerns about allocating sewer capacity for
the
Brandywine
Wallace
Elementary School
. Mr. Corbin stated he did not feel
there was sufficient excess capacity to allow this connection.
Mrs. Moser was concerned about recharge on the site.
The effluent will be recharged at the Little Washington Wastewater site.
Mr. Piersol was asked whether the
School District
has done perc tests on the site. He
wasn’t sure if that had been done. The
Municipal Authority stated that this should be done, and offering sewage
capacity for the school should be the option of last resort.
Mr. Piersol and Mr. Brown have been working on finding additional
capacity by determining the
Hopewell
development flows, and in fact do think there will be sufficient capacity for
the school. Mr. Corbin suggested
keeping any additional capacity for failing systems that may need to connect in
the future. Mr. Kirkpatrick is concerned with the lack of quantitative data.
He would like to see what the flows are for properties in the sewer
district before committing capacity to the school.
Mr. Piersol stated that the school was part of the original Special Study
and was mentioned for future sewer service.
The Municipal Authority would like the
School District
to investigate other onsite options before they decide whether to allocate any
sewer capacity to them. The
Authority would also have to decide whether to reserve sewer capacity for a
possible connection by Croppers, as previously discussed.
The
Municipal Authority is also concerned about public water for the site.
There are two issues regarding public water they would like to consider
before a final decision is made. The
first is regarding the existing well on the site.
The Municipal Authority would like to make sure that if the school
complex connects to public water, the well will be plugged and abandoned.
The Municipal Authority supports the idea of providing public water to
the school since it would be very complicated for the school to provide it
themselves.
The
other issue is about providing water service to neighbors in the vicinity of the
school. The Municipal Authority has
asked Mr. Boldaz to provide an informal accounting of planned developments that
will use public water vs. what water is still available.
Mrs. Smedley stated that there has been interest from residents in
connection to public water and, in fact, several homes on
Keller Way
and
School Lane
have complained about inadequate water pressure and quantity.
The Municipal Authority is hesitant to support public water connections
for
Keller Way
,
School Lane
, and
Dilworth Road
until we can determine exactly what amount of the public water from the Aqua
America/Downingtown allocation is still available in
East
Brandywine
Township
. They would also like to know who
will be paying for the infrastructure if these homes are allowed to connect.
Mr. Corbin would also like to determine how much of the allocation is
still available after deducting commitments for developments currently in review
and a reserve for future developments within the growth boundary.
The Municipal Authority asked Mr. Piersol to postpone further
discussions with Aqua Pennsylvania until Mr. Boldaz provides them with the
requested analysis.
Other
Business
Mrs. Moser stated that the Char Newsletter had
information on a PennVest Workshop that will be held in Downingtown on May 23rd.
Part of the discussion will be on what municipal projects are appropriate
for PennVest funding. She will investigate this.
The newsletter also contained information on the State’s water
registration program where they will be requiring anyone using more than 10,000
gpd on a property to register with the State.
Adjournment
There being no further business, Mr. Kirkpatrick
moved to adjourn the meeting at 8:40 A.M.
Mrs. Moser seconded the motion, with all voting Aye.
Executive
Session
The Municipal Authority met with their Solicitor,
John Spangler
, to discuss the
Fling/Neff Agreement and the Little Washington WasteWater Treatment Plant.
Respectfully submitted,
Mary Beth Smedley
Secretary/Treasurer
East
Brandywine
Township