Residents Pack Newtown Twp. Meeting To Oppose Wastewater Plant

NEWTOWN TOWNSHIP, PA — The residents of Middletown Township turned up the heat on its neighbor showing up in force at the January meeting of the Newtown Township Board of Supervisors to protest the idea of constructing a wastewater treatment plant near their homes.

A standing room only crowd greeted the supervisors on Jan. 22 as they listened for more than two hours as residents presented research, raised concerns over odors and impacts on property value and raised questions over whether the plant eyed for land on the township’s southern border would save ratepayers money.

The crowd, made up mostly of Middletown Township residents who live closest to the 17 acre site on Lower Silver Lake Road, came to the meeting armed with statistics, research and arguments against the plant.

The Newtown, Bucks County Joint Municipal Authority condemned 17 acres of land on Lower Silver Lake Road in August to accommodate a 12.5 million gallon per day treatment plant if a decision is made to move forward.

The authority, which has not yet made a decision on the plant, has said owning and operating its own treatment plant and separating from Bucks County Water and Sewer Authority and the Philadelphia Water Company could save its 9,000 ratepayers in the long term from projected double digit rate increases by both agencies.

Newtown is currently a wholesale customer of the Bucks County Water and Sewer Authority, which transports its sewage flows via the Neshaminy Interceptor to the Philadelphia Water Company where it is treated.

Click here to read the latest statement from the Authority

There were no motions on the agenda at the supervisors meeting regarding the plant, which is still in the investigative stages and probably won’t come before the board until land development plans are submitted by the authority.

“We don’t have the answers you’re looking for at this time,” said chairwoman Elen Snyder, who also sits on the authority board.

Added supervisor Dennis Fisher, “We’re here to listen. I don’t have an opinion and we don’t have plans in front of us to make a decision. We’re going to take note of your feelings and when there’s a decision to be made I will make it based, in part, on what we hear tonight.”

Newtown Township resident Donna Serdula, one of only a few township residents who spoke at the meeting, called on the board to stop plans for the plant from moving forward.

“Newtown is a gem. It’s quaint. It’s beautiful. It’s a place where people want to put down roots, shop and enjoy life. And now - a vision of a 2.5 million gallon per day sewer plant right here - that’s not Newtown. This plant threatens to bring odors, increased truck traffic and serious environmental risks.”

Many of the residents who spoke, including Middletown resident David Hardeski, raised the issue of odors, which are traditionally linked to sewer treatment plants. “It’s not if it’s going to smell, it’s how bad, how far and when. It’s going to happen. My bigger concern is that once this ball gets rolling and we go past the point of no return we have a 2.5 million gallon per day facility and we realize that stench is there, what are we going to do?”

Hardeski offered to fund a fact finding mission covering all expenses to travel to a state-of-the art facility - the same one they want to build in Newtown - “but we’ll go there in the summertime when we expect the smell will be there. And I’d like you guys to smell it and imagine that’s the
smell you’re going to have when you’re going to you’re nephew’s birthday party or to go out and grab some food.”

Middletown resident Melissa Murray Rigney is all too familiar with that smell. She told the board that before moving to Swan Pointe in Middletown she lived in Bristol Township nine miles away from the Lower Bucks County Sewer Plant.

“It’s terrible. It’s not if it will smell, it will smell and it’s awful," she said. "It doesn’t matter whether it’s summer or winter. It doesn’t matter whether it’s dry or if it rains. I had to move because I could no longer stand going outside into my backyard to get in my pool. It was awful and I was constantly sick.”

In addition to the odors, Rigney warned that if Newtown builds its own plant and pulls out of the regional system, rates throughout the system will increase for everyone else to make up for the loss.

She added that condemning the 17 acre property on Lower Silver Lake Road was “sneaky” and “it’s a horrible idea for this neighborhood.”

“Many of us here tonight are afraid,” added Swan Pointe resident Gary Sondermeyer. “We’re afraid because we don’t know what a sewer plant will do to the quality of life, to our property values and to our treasured local environment.

“This is our home,” Sondermeyer continued, “and we’re going to protect our home. There is no way a sewer plant is going to be put in our backyard without us putting together as organized and substantive of an opposition as we can.”

Sondermeyer said the idea of a new wastewater plant is not a new one in Newtown. “In 2013 it was attempted and our neighbors at Crown Pointe said no. And we’re here tonight to say no. This is just the beginning. We’re not going away.”

The residents, who have organized under the name “Stop The Newtown Sewer Plant,” presented several expects who delivered detailed comments in opposition to the plant. Among them was Ray Post, a water treatment expert.

“This is my plea to you," Post told the supervisors. "I understand that potentially there might be some savings in terms of the sewer bill. There might also be a significant increase depending on whose numbers you believe. But the one thing you can count on is that our environment and our cherished resources and quality of life will take a big hit if this sewage treatment plant is ever built.”