Water Project Irks E-Town Resident
Posted on: Wednesday, 11 June 2008, 18:00 CDT
By Tom Knapp
Staff
An Elizabethtown Borough resident has complained that the borough is shouldering an unfair financial burden to ensure that West Donegal Township residents have water.
Why should borough residents pay for improvements needed only for West Donegal Township? Jeff Heisey, 188 N. Mount Joy St., asked borough council at its May 15 meeting.
At issue is a new, 1.6 million gallon-a-day water plant, which council approved for construction in March.
The plant is slated to be built at the Elizabethtown reservoir at the end of West Hummelstown Street. Specific plans for the site and the total cost of construction have not yet been discussed.
However, several residents complained during a conditional-use hearing in March that the structure will block their scenic views of the borough reservoir and send unwanted traffic down their neighborhood streets.
Heisey said the borough's current water plant has never run at more than 50 percent and argued that there's no need for a new plant to meet the needs of borough residents.
Members of the Elizabethtown Area Water Authority did not keep the best interests of the borough in mind when they voted in favor of the new plant, he said. He asked council to remove the borough representatives - councilman C. Dale Treese and former councilmen Ken Reighard and John Buch - from the authority.
Heisey also said he is disappointed in councilman Thomas Shaud, who is employed by the water authority, for supporting the construction plan.
But council president Meade Bierly said the borough is mandated by the state to upgrade the plant to meet new technology standards. To afford those improvements, he said, the authority needs new customers.
At 1.6 million gallons of potable water per day, the plant has the capacity to produce double the present needs of customers in the borough and West Donegal Township.
Water authority spokesman John Caldwell said in March that the new plant should take care of water needs for the area for 20 to 25 years.
More than 1,000 new homes are planned for construction in the township, he noted. The plant will easily handle the increased demand for water.
Assistant borough manager Roni Ryan said a land-development plan will be reviewed by the planning commission and council before construction begins.
E-mail: tknapp@lnpnews.com
(c) 2008 Intelligencer Journal. Provided by ProQuest Information and Learning. All rights Reserved.
Source: Intelligencer Journal
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