Lower Towamensing Township’s sewer plant could be up and running by 2028.

Doug Kopp, a civil engineer with ARRO Consulting, provided supervisors on Tuesday with a sewer plan review.

Kopp said the timetable is by the end of January, to come up with a solid design plan.

At that point, Kopp said there would be water quality management, then a PennDOT permit.

He said the plan would then be to get all of that sent out and reviewed so that 12 to 15 months from now, they can get plans to start bidding.

However, Kopp noted that’s an aggressive timetable.

From there, he said there would be a three to six month bidding process.

Construction, Kopp said, would be March through June, and last around 24 months.

By 2028, he said the sewer system would be up.

“Is that guaranteed,” Kopp said. “No.”

As for funding, he said January 2025 is the timetable.

The township is trying to figure out where it’s going to get funding.

Regarding easements, Kopp said that would take place once they get the initial sent out to the agencies.

“We have a set of easements that exists,” he said.

Township solicitor Jim Nanovic said that depending on how many easements are necessary, there may be several meetings.

Nanovic said that if the people do not grant an easement, the township can use eminent domain.

“We’d rather meet with the people, explain to them so that it’s understood,” Nanovic said.

Township planning commission member Angela Farrell asked Kopp where things stood with Blue Mountain Resort.

Kopp told Farrell he hasn’t had any further conversation with them.

Farrell then suggested to Kopp that it would be prudent for him to come up with a solid timeline.

Township Supervisor Michael Takerer agreed that would be beneficial for all involved.

Kopp said he would have a design of the treatment plant to supervisors by next month’s meeting.

Later on in the meeting, Supervisor Jay Mullikin asked residents to be fair.

Mullikin said the position the township is in with the sewer project is not on Kopp and his firm, nor the current group of supervisors.

“They’re doing the best they can,” said Mullikin, who noted that for the past 30 to 40 years, the matter has been pushed down the road. “Please bear with us.”

In July, Kopp told supervisors that work on the computer aided design files was about 70% done, and the work on the entire plan set was about 60% done.

The sewer project has been under consideration for decades. It gained steam under Carbon Engineering in 2022, but stalled. ARRO Consulting took over the project in 2023, but progress was slow as they waited to receive all of the CAD drawings from Carbon Engineering, not knowing if they would have to start the project from the beginning.

Carbon wouldn’t release all of their work, because of a payment discrepancy with the township. By March of this year, ARRO was getting the CAD files it needed.

Takerer asked him about an estimate on the cost of the project, and Kopp said it hasn’t been updated.

Kopp said he would take a look at the costs for the collection system and talk to the engineers with Barry Isett and Associates, who work for Blue Mountain Resort, regarding the treatment plant.

For ARRO’s part, Kopp told the supervisors in March that the professional services agreement with them for the work would cost the township $103,000. He told them the township would not be charged anything above that cost, even if there are additional costs for their work.

As for the installation of the sewer line, back in February 2023, Brent Green, then chairman of the supervisors, said the project was estimated to cost $16 million under Carbon Engineering. The project was expected to serve 690 dwellings.

Green said at that time, “So 690 customers sharing the cost of $16 million dollars is a lot of money to put on those users. We can’t create more users, so that’s the whole issue moving forward.”