Jul 15, 2014 4 min read

WAYNESBURG – Waynesburg Borough council approved a resolution Monday that will allow Greene County to apply for additional grant money to complete the Jackson Run project.

The county intends to apply for an additional $500,000 for the project, which will involve replacing culverts that carry the stream on both sides of High Street, just west of the intersection with Woodland Avenue.

The state Department of Transportation will also replace the bridge on High Street over Jackson Run as part of the project.

The borough already has about $1.7 million for replacement of the culverts. The borough had received a $770,000 H2O state grant for the project, and the county is contributing about $900,000 from a state Growing Greener grant it received in 2009.

The project was originally proposed to prevent flooding on High Street near Woodland Avenue at times of heavy rain.

The borough recently was attempting to obtain easements from the surrounding property owners for the project. Borough manager Mike Simms said the easements must be in hand by today, July 16, the deadline for the county’s grant application.

The additional $500,000 is needed for engineering work that was done as the project changed from its initial design and for extra shoring that will be required because of requests by property owners the project to not further impact the use of their land, he said.

Councilman Mark Fischer suggested if the county is not awarded the grant, the borough needs to talk to local legislators about finding additional money for the project.

In other business, Simms reported Gannett Fleming, the engineering firm council hired to review options in regard to improvements to the borough sewage system, talked to the state Department of Environmental Protection about the status of the borough’s project.

The DEP told the engineering firm to contact the department after the borough revises the plan that was developed to address overflows at the borough sewer plant caused by storm water infiltration into borough sewer lines.

The DEP has required the borough to eliminate the overflows by December 2015.

Fayette Engineering earlier prepared a plan for the work that estimated the costs of correcting problems with the collection system at $3.6 million, but did not include a cost estimate for improvements needed at the treatment plant.

Council last month notified Fayette Engineering to halt work on the project and asked Gannett Fleming to review Fayette’s plan and consider other options for the system as well as for work needed at the treatment plant.

Gannett Fleming, which is the engineer for the Franklin Township Sewer Authority, also was asked to investigate whether there is any way the borough’s and authority’s plants could work in conjunction with each other.

Simms reported the borough continues to monitor flow in borough sewer lines to determine more accurately where surface water is infiltrating the system.

Simms also reported the borough was notified it will receive $170,000 in Act 13 natural gas impact fee money from the state. The borough had budgeted only $140,000 in Act 13 money this year, he said.

He also reported two firms have submitted proposals to assist with revisions to the borough’s comprehensive plan. The firms, Mackin Engineering and HRG Engineering, proposed working together on the project, he said.

The borough received a $45,000 grant from the state to revise the plan. Waynesburg University and the county will serve as partners in the funding and in the planning process, which is expected to cost $110,000.

Fischer urged residents interested in the borough’s future to take advantage of the opportunities that will be available for public input during the revision process.

Solicitor Linda Chambers reported she is revising the borough parking ordinance to increase the fines for certain parking violations.

Council adopted a new ordinance two months ago, but then learned the ordinance had not been advertised properly and proposed fines were incompatible with the borough’s computer invoicing program.

Council originally proposed increasing the fine for violating the two-hour parking limit in the unmetered area of the business district from $5 to $20. Motorists who violated the two-hour limit and are ticketed once will be ticketed again every two hours if the vehicle is not moved.

The current $5 fines for violations, including parking too far from the curb, failing to park within the marked space and parking on the sidewalk or curb, also will increase to $10. Parking in a business loading zone will increase from $5 to $20. Parking in a handicap zone will remain at $50.