Eldred Township supervisors this week decided not to file a civil suit against the previous board of supervisors which amended a zoning ordinance.

That change opened the door for Nestle Waters NA to bring a water extraction business to the township.Nestle pulled out after a public outcry. However, a right-to-know request revealed the ordeal cost the township $89,471.55.Eldred Township supervisors at the insistence of residents hired a hydrogeologist to confirm and oversee the testing being conducted by Nestle at the wellhead sites.Two hydrogeologists were hired in the course of the process at a total cost of $18,068.32. The township initially hired Phil Getty of Boucher and James Inc. to act as the township’s expert, but in February of this year Getty was fired by the township and Matthew Mulhall of M2 Associates was hired to replace Getty.The planning commission’s attorney, Michael Gaul reviewed the application and worked with the engineering firm to determine deficiencies in the application and bring them to the attention of the applicant and the supervisors. The solicitor’s cost was $12,001 while the engineering firm, Hanover Engineering, charged $10,830.77 for poring over the three-volume application.During the course of the application process, a number of residents brought a lawsuit against the township, asserting that the zoning ordinance had been unlawfully amended to permit water extraction in the light industrial zone.Although the township chose not to defend this claim, the township supervisorshired the firm of Curtin and Heefner LLC to act as special counsel to represent it and the residents for both the zoning hearings and in the Court of Common Pleas with regard to the civil suit.The special counsel cost the township $41,116.46.The zoning hearing board solicitor Chad Martinez, billed the township $7,455 for his services during the course of the application process.The township, according to the municipal planning code, will be permitted to bill Nestle for the court reporter who attended the zoning hearings, the cost of advertising and the compensation paid to the hearing board members.The total for these items comes to $3,560.60 as compared with the non-recovered costs of $89,471.55.“Eldred’s total expenses in connection with Nestle’s special exception application are approaching $100,000, and what Nestle will pay toward that amount is minimal,” said Eldred Chairwoman Mary Anne Clausen. “That is a huge bill for a township with a population of about 3,000.”“Eldred is lucky that it went into this year in a strong financial position and even luckier that Nestle withdrew when it did. Despite three nights of hearings before the company’s withdrawal, the process was still just beginning. If we had had to complete the hearing and likely judicial appeals, the cost to the township would have been astronomical.”The costs associated with the aborted Nestle application are equal to 9 percent of the overall 2016 budget for Eldred Township.If Nestle had continued to pursue its application, the township realistically would have incurred far greater expenses, including the very real possibility of mounting or defending an appeal of whatever decision the zoning hearing board came to, the continued fight in the Court of Common Pleas defending its position on the zoning amendment and more.When Nestle Waters filed its application for a special use exception in Eldred Township, the three 3-inch binders that made up the application were accompanied by a check in the amount of $300, the cost of filing an application for a special use exception.If the project would have gone through, Nestle proposed a $750,000 trust for community development projects.