EAST
BRANDYWINE
TOWNSHIP
MUNICIPAL AUTHORITY
Tuesday,
July 13, 2004
7:30
AM
Those
in Attendance:
Michael Corbin
, Chairman
Gerald
Kirkpatrick, Vice-Chairman
David
Summers, Treasurers
Sandra Moser
, Member
John Spangler
, Municipal Authority Solicitor
Joseph
Boldaz, Municipal Authority Engineer
Scott T. Piersol
, Township Manager
Matthew
T. VanLew, Roadmaster
Mary
Beth Smedley, Secretary/Treasurer
Absent:
Joseph Anthony
, Secretary
Thomas Brown
, Municipal Authority Engineer
The
Municipal Authority met on
Tuesday, July 13, 2004
. Also
in attendance were
Scott T. Piersol
, Township Manager;
John Spangler
, Municipal Authority Solicitor, Joseph
Boldaz, Municipal Authority Engineer; Matthew T. VanLew, Roadmaster and Mary
Beth Smedley, Secretary/Treasurer
Mr.
Corbin called the meeting to order at
7:30 A.M.
Minutes:
May
8, 2004
Mr.
Corbin asked if there were any additions or corrections to the above minutes.
There were none. Mr. Summers
then made a motion to approve the minutes as presented.
Mr. Kirkpatrick seconded the motion, with all voting Aye.
Minutes:
June
8, 2004
Approval of the
June 8, 2004
Municipal Authority Minutes was deferred until the
August 10, 2004
meeting.
Brandywine
Wallace
Elementary School
The
property owner and applicant is the
Downingtown
Area
School District
. The property is located on the
east side of
Dilworth Road
between
School Lane
and
Keller Way North
and is within the R-2 Residential Zoning District. Access to the site is from
Dilworth Road
. The existing gross property area is 19.179 acres and the lot contains an
existing 52,719 s.f. school building, paved driveway, paved parking areas,
on-site sewer and water, lawn and woodland areas.
The plan proposes to construct a new 58,612 s.f. two story school
building, driveway and parking area. The
maximum student capacity will be 650. The
existing school, parking areas and accessory facilities are to be demolished.
The
building design will also be used at the
Pickering
Valley
Elementary School
site in
Upper
Uwchlan
Township
. Both
schools will remain in use while the site and new building construction occur.
The
school will be two stories in height, with the kindergarten, first and second
grades in the rear of the front-facing ground level, and the public spaces,
including the gym, cafeteria and administration areas in the front of the
building. The public spaces are
proposed to be open for public use after school hours.
The third, fourth and fifth grades will be located on the lower level.
This level will also exit at ground level from the rear toward
School Lane
. The plan is to construct a long building with a curved central hallway
to take advantage of the topography of the existing site.
The
School District
would like to have the building completed by
September of 2006.
Request
for Public Water
Mr.
Gil Lappano, Director of Facilities, Planning and Management for the
School District
and Mr. James Clough, Architect, discussed the
School District
’s request for public water and sewer.
Mr. Lappano stated
the Planning Commission recommended that he attend the Municipal Authority
Meeting to discuss these requests. The
School District
’s preference is to have the school served by public water and sewer.
If the school were served by their existing well, it would probably be
considered a non-transient, non-community system, which could be expensive to
maintain and operate. At present,
the
School District
doesn’t have the in-house capability of operating a non-community water
system. In addition, the
School District
would prefer to have a sprinkler system installed in the school, rather than
have to install dry hydrant tanks. The
School District
has applied to PA DEP to have their current system and operator
“grandfathered” under previous regulations in the event that they cannot
connect to public water. There have
been no operational problems with the existing well, or the water quality.
Mr. Lappano estimates water needs for the school to be approximately
2,000 gpd.
Mr. Corbin explained
that a very limited amount of public water has been allocated for
East
Brandywine
Township
from Aqua Pennsylvania. The
Township has just resolved a dispute with Aqua Pennsylvania, formerly
Philadelphia Suburban Water Company. Aqua
Pennsylvania
is now providing water to
East
Brandywine
Township
through an agreement with Downingtown Municipal Water Authority.
The agreement provides for a maximum of 500,000 gpd per day to be
distributed among
East Brandywine
,
West Brandywine
and
Caln
Townships
. If the Municipal Authority
supports the
School District
request for public water they would like to make sure the existing well will be
plugged and abandoned.
The
Municipal Authority has asked their Engineer, Mr. Joseph Boldaz, to estimate how
much water has already been allocated, and how much is still available relative
to the 500,000 gpd agreement. Mr.
Boldaz has also provided a rough draft conceptual document that will be used to
develop hardship criteria for connection to public water.
Since there isn’t an unlimited amount of water available, the Municipal
Authority is treating every request for water cautiously.
Mr. Corbin asked Mr.
Lappano to provide the Municipal Authority with rationale to support their
request for water prior to the next meeting so it can be reviewed by the
Municipal Authority and Mr. Boldaz.
Request for
Public Sewer
The Municipal
Authority was concerned about allocating sewer capacity for the
Brandywine
Wallace
Elementary School
. Given current information, the
Municipal Authority did not feel there was sufficient excess capacity to approve
this connection at this time. All of
the Township Ordinances and plans stress the need for groundwater recharge so
that we protect the groundwater supply. The
Municipal Authority would like the
School District
to investigate other onsite options, before they decide whether to allocate any
sewer capacity to them, if it is available. The
School District
’s consultant will review the different options and report back to the
Municipal Authority. It was noted
that an on-site sewage system would not have the same operating complexities as
a community water system.
Mr. Lappano stated
that they would proceed with providing the Authority with information to support
the request for public water, and will investigate on-site recharge for the
sewage.
Mr. Summers asked
Mr. Lappano to outline the
School District
’s long-term plan for when additional space is needed again.
Mr. Lappano stated that the next elementary school would likely be built
in
Wallace
Township
. The
School District
has already reserved sewer capacity for that site.
They are also looking for land in
West Bradford
and
Upper
Uwchlan
Townships
.
Draft Public
Water Allocation
Mr. Boldaz provided
an updated draft preliminary assessment in order for the Municipal Authority to
estimate the anticipated water demand of the known proposed developments in
East
Brandywine
Township
.
By
his preliminary calculations the current total anticipated water demand could be
as high as 369,000 gpd per day, just for
East
Brandywine
Township
. There is no way for Mr. Boldaz to
determine if the water is coming from Downingtown Municipal Water Authority’s
500,000 gpd allocation with Aqua Pennsylvania, or from another source. He
calculated this number two ways using 3 people per household, each person using
100 gpd and 143 gpd respectively. Mr.
Boldaz will continue to refine these preliminary figures and provide a revised
draft prior to the next meeting.
Draft Public
Water Connection Criteria
Mr. Corbin asked the
Municipal Authority members to review the draft criteria provided by Mr. Boldaz.
This will be an item for discussion at the next meeting.
Mr. Boldaz provided
a map showing property owners who have an interest is connecting to public
water. It appears that the highest
concentration of those interested is on
Keller Way
, where there have been reported well problems.
Once the public water connection criteria are finalized, the Municipal
Authority will consider whether or not it is appropriate for public water to be
provided to those homeowners with the most serious problems.
Mr. Corbin left the
meeting at
8:05 A.M.
Delaware
County Community College/Keats Glen Sewage Treatment Plant
TMH reported an
exceedance in Ammonia levels for the month of May.
Mr. Piersol will contact Mr. Brown to discuss this and determine what
corrective measures, if any, need to be taken.
Hopewell
Subdivision/Punch list Items
Mr. Brown provided a
letter dated
July 8, 2004
outlining the status of the punch list items.
Mr. Brown will be reviewing the revised as-built drawings and the review
drawings showing the sewer from the
Township
Building
to
Bondsville Road
and the access road from
Bondsville Road
to the pumping station. Mr. Steve
Gallo indicated that Rouse/Chamberlin would like to aim for sewer and pumping
station dedication by the Authority’s August meeting.
Mr. Brown will work with Mr. Gallo to see if this is possible.
Mr. Spangler stated that he has received no documents to review regarding
the dedication. He will contact Mr.
Gallo regarding those documents.
Sewer
from
Township
Building
to
Bondsville Road
Mr. Brown has
reviewed the two revised sewer drawings and provided his comments to Mr. Gallo
and Mr. Altrogge at Bursich Associates. He
did comment that the sewer alignment at depths from manhole 3Y to manhole 3V do
not match the alignment and depths requested by the Township as needed to fit in
and provide service to the Township building, including the Township’s plan
for a new Township building and garage. He
has asked that the drawings be revised as outlined in his
July 9, 2004
letter.
Bollinger Road
Residents Request for Public Sewer
Residents on
Bollinger Road
have requested that they be given an option to connect to the sewer system
proposed for the Overlook Road Farm Development and the K. Hovnanian
Development. Mr. Kirkpatrick asked
whether there were documented problems or failed systems along
Bollinger Road
. Mr. Piersol reported there are no problems of which he is aware.
The Municipal Authority asked Mr. Piersol to send a letter acknowledging
the request and explain to the residents that neither the Township nor Municipal
Authority are in a position to grant or deny this request at the present time.
The request will be forwarded to K. Hovnanian so they may consider
including sewer lateral connections for those properties.
Mr. Piersol will
also provide information to residents regarding costs associated with connecting
to the sewer system, quarterly fees that would be the responsibility of the
homeowner, and the requirement that anyone connecting a public sewer would need
to abandon their existing septic system.
Aqua Aerobic Systems
Mr.
Boldaz extended an invitation to Mr. Piersol and the Municipal Authority members
to attend a seminar offered by Aqua-Aerobic, a manufacturer of package
wastewater treatment plants. He
thought this would be helpful, particularly since they have been working with
Pulte Homes on the Overlook Road Farm/K. Hovnanian treatment plant.
Other
Issues
Mr. VanLew asked
when the sewer main would be installed for the Municipal Complex.
Mr. Piersol stated that he expected it to be installed within the next
month.
Mr.
VanLew asked if
Keller Way
residents could connect to a community water system if the
Downingtown
Area
School District
were to construct one to serve the
Brandywine-Wallace
Elementary School
. Mr. Kirkpatrick explained that it
would be difficult because of the expense and additional regulations that would
be required to “export” water off the property.
Mr. VanLew then asked if residents could connect to the well on the
School property. Mr. Kirkpatrick
thought this was an interesting idea, but would best be resolved as a private
matter between the
School District
and residents along
Keller Way
.
Mrs.
Moser will be sending information to the Municipal Authority regarding a
$250,000,000 infrastructure bond issue that is being considered by the State
Senate. Originally, this bond
was to help restore aging sewage systems and improve water quality. The Senate
has added amendments and opened the funding to include new development.
She suggested the Municipal Authority consider taking a position on the
Senate actions, and writing a letter to Senator John Rafferty and Represent Curt
Schroder.
Adjournment
There
being no further business, Mrs. Moser moved to adjourn the meeting at
8:35 A.M.
Mr. Summers seconded the motion, with all voting Aye.
Respectfully
submitted,
Mary
Beth Smedley
Secretary/Treasurer
East
Brandywine
Township