Nov 10, 2015 4 min read

WAYNESBURG – Waynesburg Borough Council should soon have a better idea of the costs associated with improvements to the borough’s sewage treatment plant.

Bob Dengler of Gannett Fleming, the borough’s engineer on the sewer project, told council Monday he expects to have cost estimates ready next month for the three alternatives council is considering to address problems at the plant.

The three alternatives include rehabilitating the existing plant, replacing it with a new plant or abandoning the plant and having borough sewage treated by the Franklin Township Sewage Authority’s plant.

In regard to combining with Franklin, Dengler said, he still has to know how much Franklin would charge to treat the borough’s sewage.

Under this alternative, the borough also would have to pay to upgrade the Franklin Township plant to handle additional capacity.

Councilman Mike Fisher said the borough is planning to meet in January with the Franklin authority to discuss the project and possible rates.

The borough is required by the state Department of Environmental Protection to develop a plan to reduce overflows at the treatment plant that occur at times of heavy rain and partly result from the fact that when the system was built, storm water and sanitary sewers were combined.

In addition to improvements at the treatment plant, the plan being developed by Gannett Fleming calls for separating the sanitary sewer and storm sewer in an area where it is feasible and reducing the amount of groundwater infiltration entering the system through faulty sewer lines.

In August, DEP granted the borough an extension on the time at which it must submit a plan. The plan was originally to be submitted next month. The extension pushed that deadline to February 2017.

In other business, Councilman Mark Fischer reported the comprehensive plan’s study on parking in downtown shows no need for a parking garage. The study said parking density, or congestion, was primarily in the area of the courthouse and methods could be employed, such as meters that charge a higher rate near the courthouse, to encourage motorist to park in more outlying areas.

Fischer, whose antique business is on Church Street across from the courthouse, also asked council to consider moving the farmers market from Church Street next year.

The street is in the area with the highest density for parking, he said. On days the farmer market is held, Fischer said, his business sees a 60 to 80 percent decline in sales.

Other council members agreed saying the market could possibly be held on the sidewalk in front of the courthouse or at a location where there was more parking available.

Council agree to sell a small sliver of property 8 to 11 feet wide at the rear of the Midtown Auto lot to Joey Zhu of New Lam’s Garden, who has plans to expand his restaurant on Washington Street.

The property had been appraised at $750. Assistant borough manager Bryan Cumberledge said the borough code permits the borough to sell the land without seeking bids if the appraised value is less than $1,500.

The sale is contingent on approval from DEP. The Midtown Auto lot has restrictions on its use because of fuel tanks that are buried on site.

As part of his plan, Zho also wants to split the cost with the borough of tearing down the Midtown Auto building and then lease the site from the borough which he plans to use for deliveries.

Council discussed what to do with the building as it has many times in the past, either tear it down or renovate it, and took no action on the matter Monday.

Council approved a motion to allow the Emerald Mine to drill a water well on the borough dump property in Franklin Township to provide water to replenish a stream impact by mining north of Waynesburg. The company, required by DEP to replenish the stream, agree to pay the borough $3,000.