Date: Fri 01-Sep-1995

Publication: Bee

Author: ANDYG

Quick Words:

sewer-Main-Street-trees

Full Text:

WPCA Due To Vote On Sewer Line Placement

B Y A NDREW G OROSKO

Water Pollution Control Authority (WPCA) members were poised to address the

thorny issue of sewer line placements along the east side of Main Street at a

meeting scheduled for August 31.

At the session, which was slated to begin after the deadline for this edition

of The Bee, WPCA members were expected to discuss and possibly act on where

sewer lines should be installed to serve 31 properties on the east side of the

thoroughfare.

The best place to install the sewers has been a controversial topic, with

discussion among Main Street residents shifting among three possible

locations: beneath Main Street; beneath the grassy area lying between the curb

line and the sidewalk; or behind the houses. A separate sewer line will serve

the west side of the street.

On August 23, WPCA Chairman Peter Alagna told the Borough Board of Burgesses

that the WPCA plans to pursue installing the sewer line along the curb line, a

route, he says, that is the most practical and economical one to serve

properties in that area.

But Attorney Robert Hall took issue with Mr Alagna's announcement this week,

saying that WPCA members had already decided to install the sewer lines behind

the houses on the east side of the street and hadn't voted to alter their

plans and place the sewers along the curb line.

The curb line area along the east side of the street has many public utility

lines both beneath and above it, Mr Hall said.

Mr Hall said he is planning to check public utility mapping for the area to

learn whether there is enough unobstructed space there for a sewer trench

which wouldn't adversely affect the stately trees along the street. Electric

power lines strung from utility poles and buried long-distance telephone lines

are located in that area, Mr Hall noted.

Mr Hall asked why sewers shouldn't be installed in the backyards along Main

Street as the WPCA has been planning to do.

Any WPCA vote to shift the sewer placement from backyards to the curb line

area which is made before WPCA members inspect public utility mapping would be

an "absolutely foolish" vote, Mr Hall added.

In 1994, the WPCA had decided to install sewers along the curb line. But Board

of Burgesses protests that doing so would damage or destroy the stately trees

lining the east side of the street led the WPCA to shift the planned sewer

route to the area behind the houses.

In recent weeks, Main Street residents unhappy with plans for sewers in their

backyards pressed WPCA members to instead have the sewers installed either

along the curb line or beneath Main Street.

Some Main Street residents say the WPCA hasn't made a good faith effort to

persuade the state Department of Transportation to allow the town to install

sewers beneath Main Street which is also state Route 25.

WPCA members have resisted placing sewers beneath Main Street, saying such a

location would make for traffic hazards, potential public safety hazards, road

maintenance problems and increased sewer project costs.

Mr Alagna said August 30 he sensed an "implicit concurrence" among fellow WPCA

members during in recent weeks that installing a sewer line along the Main

Street curb line is the best route for the sewer. Mr Alagna said he expects a

WPCA vote to be taken at the August 31 meeting to formalize that location as

the panel's choice for a sewer route.

WPCA members won't consider placing a sewer beneath Main Street, Mr Alagna

said. Construction work to hook up such a sewer line beneath Main Street to

houses on the east side of the street could result in public safety hazards

stemming from broken natural gas lines, according to Mr Alagna.

WPCA members have studied public utility maps for the Main Street area and

have found there's sufficient room to dig a sewer trench along the curb line

on the east side of the street, according to the WPCA chairman.

In recent weeks, Main Street residents have been circulating petitions to have

the WPCA place the sewer line under the street or along the curb line, but not

in the backyards there.

The town is under a pollution abatement order from the state Department of

Environmental Protection to resolve longstanding groundwater pollution

problems caused by failing septic waste disposal systems. The town is in the

midst of a $30.4 million sewer system construction project to meet the terms

of the abatement order. The sewer system is slated to be in operation in about

two years.