Episcopal Academy Gets OK On Steep Slope Conditional Use For Sewer Main

NEWTOWN SQUARE–The Board of Supervisors voted 4-1 on Monday night in favor of 's request for a conditional use approval to install a sanitary sewer main on disturbed areas of steep slope within an easement on the Ashford Land Company , L.P., site in Newtown Square.

The application was approved by the supervisors with conditions made upon the township's Planning Commission as well as upon language of how to handle the trees on the school's campus that will be demolished during the installation of the sewer main.

Supervisors Vice Chairman Dr. Ross Lambert shared his concerns of what the replacement policy would be for the destroyed trees once the construction begins for the installation of the water main.

"I'm woried about a lot of trees. We don't know how many trees are there. I would be hesitant to vote not knowing how many trees are there," said Lambert.

In the end, Lambert voted in favor of the steep slope conditional use application on the conditions of replacing the destroyed trees and finding a proper location for the new trees to be planted, subject to the township manager and school's approval.

Supervisor George Wood held the lone nay and voted against the school's request for conditional use, stating that "there are too many variables" for approval.

Angelo Capuzzi of Chester Valley Engineers and the lead engineer on the project testified during Monday's hearing. Capuzzi that Ashford's sub-division plans were previously approved by the Board of Supervisors in July of last year, which had included the school tying into the sewer line on the Ashford property. The school currently handles sanitary sewage on the property through "pump and haul."

According to Capuzzi, the force main will be 4 inches in diameter made of polyvinyl chloride (PVC pipe) and 0.265 inches thick. In addition, the pipe will be underground, encased in 6 inches of concrete–to mitigate any issues of flooding in the wetlands should a rupture occur–and the ground elevation, or floodplain elevation, would not change.

Capuzzi also previously stated that the proposed sanitary sewer force main would not cause any danger to nearby lands downstream. However, at Monday night's hearing, several Echo Valley residents shared the increase of downstream flooding that has occurred in their neighborhood after the construction of the school's new campus off of Bishop White Drive.

Don Petrosa, the attorney representing EA on the project, assured that the increase of flooding in Echo Valley was not due to the construction of the school. A study of analysis was taken on the flooding which indicated several other factors contributing to the flooding, according to Petrosa.

When asked whether or not the school had considered other alternatives of hooking up to a sanitary sewer system, EA representatives responded that other alternatives were considered but were, simply, not practical.

"Episcopal does have an approved sewage planning module for an alternate plan to connect to public sewers. That alternate plan is to build a force main down Rt. 252/Newtown Street Rd. and connect the sewers at Dudie Drive," said Capuzzi.

To hook up to the sewer at Dudie Drive is approximately 13,000 feet from the school's campus as opposed to tying into the Ashford line which is about 1,600 feet.

According to Capuzzi, the installation of the line would take approximatey one month. Petrosa said the school plans to tie into Ashford's line in accordance to their Phase I of construction on their planning module.

"The plan is–nothing is finalized–but Ashford plans to run the line down [Rt.] 252. It doesn't make sense to have two lines going down 252. They need a bigger line than we do," said Petrosa.

The township's Zoning Hearing Board unanimously approved the school's application for a special exception to construct a sanitary sewer main from the southern part of their property to the Ashford site at a meeting on Dec. 15 of last year.

At a meeting earlier this year, the township's Planning Commission approved the school's request of a conditional use for the sewer line through the southern part of their property to the Ashford site.

"The conditional use was because part of it will be on steep or very steep slopes. Out of the approximately 1,600 feet, approximately 175 feet are in steep slope and 65 feet in very steep slopes. So, that falls within the limits that are permitted so there's no problem there," previously stated Eugene Capaldi, chairman of the Planning Commission.