How long and how much?

During a meeting Saturday morning, Walker Township supervisors said they're concerned about the additional time and money it will take to get a complete and approved Act 537 sewage facilities plan.Walker and West Penn townships have formed an intermunicipal agreement to develop the plan.West Penn had started the process more than 10 years ago, hiring Ludgate Engineering, which submitted a plan to the Pennsylvania Department of Environmental Protection in 2007. PADEP never approved that plan, which called for a townshipwide public sewer system with an $11 million price tag.In 2008, West Penn hired Rettew Associates and partnered with Walker Township. Rettew Engineer Ron Madison conducted a needs assessment and developed a plan which called for more localized fixes in the form of cluster community and on-lot sewer systems in four areas, South Tamaqua, Snyders, Clamtown/Reynolds and Andreas. Madison's plan has a price tag of about $1 million.Under the terms of the intermunicipal agreement, Walker is on the hook for 18 percent of the cost. Rettew had submitted the Act 537 plan in October 2013, but the state DEP kicked it back as incomplete in 10 areas.On April 28, representatives from Walker and West Penn townships and Rettew Associates traveled to Wilkes-Barre to meet with DEP officials and get direction on what was needed to be able to present the plan as "complete." During West Penn's meeting May 5, Madison told them that fixing those 10 areas will take three to four months and cost about $40,000.During their meeting Saturday, Walker supervisors expressed concerns about the factors which remain unknown: the additional cost, and whether or not the plan will be approved once it's submitted."The 10 items are related to the completeness of the plan," said supervisor Leonard Ostergaard, who was at the meeting with DEP in Wilkes-Barre. "DEP isn't even at the point where they can say, OK, the plan is complete and we can review it now."Ostergaard said that according to what he learned at the meeting, DEP officials found issue with the plan as submitted, as the plan includes reports developed by both engineering firms. Since so much time has passed, some of the work performed by Ludgate, such as some of the mapping, is now dated."One of our concerns is how we handle this moving on," said Chairman Bill McMullin. "We don't know what the extra expense is going to be."The supervisors took no action but reviewed the minutes from the DEP meeting. They said they would seek advice from township solicitor Mike Greek, who was not able to attend the meeting, which had been rescheduled from Thursday.In other action, resident Randy Bensinger, who is a member of the township's Planning Commission, asked the supervisors to develop a comment letter for the pending Eastern Schuylkill Planning Agreement. Tamaqua and Walker, Schuylkill and Rush townships have formed a joint zoning agreement called Eastern Schuylkill Planning.Walker Township includes areas which are zoned as Enhanced Agriculture Preservation. According to the requirements in the zoning ordinance, land which is subdivided from tracts located in an EAP area must be a minimum of an acre and a half in size. Bensinger, who had backed that requirement as the EAP definitions were developed, said that now he would like the minimum size for lots to be reduced to one acre.McMullin asked Bensinger why he had changed his mind about that, and Bensinger said he thought the change would help preserve farmland. The supervisors took no action on Bensinger's request, but said they would discuss it further.In other action, the supervisors purchased eight security cameras from Security Camera King at a cost not to exceed $1,800. The cameras will be installed in and around the township building.Resident David Houser, who is a member of Zion's Methodist Church, Reynolds, expressed concerns about a pipe that runs under the church's parking lot. Houser said the pipe is broken and causing the lot surface to deteriorate in the area. The discharge from the pipe ends up in a ditch on private property; the area used to be part of the Walker Township School property. The supervisors directed their engineer, Dave Horst of Alfred Benesch & Co., to check into the issue.