South Strabane approves holding tank agreement with CNX
South Strabane Township supervisors approved a sewage holding tank agreement Tuesday for a CNX property that was put up for auction Wednesday.
The supervisors rejected the agreement two weeks ago on a 3-2 vote because of concerns any potential buyers might not understand the annual cost of maintaining a holding tank, which would be located on the property at 37 Strabane Drive.
Supervisor Bracken Burns said if a holding tank needs to be emptied on an average of twice a month, at a cost of about $700 a month, he doesn’t want that $8,000 annual cost be “hidden” to the buyer.
“That was why I was opposed to it the first time,” he said Tuesday. “It needs to be up front and understood by the buyer.”
Burns suggested earlier this month CNX put in a different sewerage system before auctioning the property, but Aaron Smith, an attorney representing CNX, informed the board at the previous meeting a holding tank is the only type of system Washington County Sewage Council will permit on the property.
Two other CNX properties in the township – 131 Garber Road and 9 Anderson Drive – also were put up for auction Wednesday, already having secured holding tank agreements.
Smith requested Tuesday that the supervisors reconsider the agreement for 37 Strabane Drive. Burns made a motion to reconsider it with a provision for a disclosure statement for any potential buyers, and the motion was approved.
The disclosure statement must “be presented by CNX Land, LLC to be signed by the buyer acknowledging that the holding tank will require ongoing maintenance costs of approximately $700 per month,” the motion states, “as well as disclosure statements to be signed by the buyers of 131 Garber Road and 9 Anderson Drive acknowledging the same and the failure to do so will negate the holding tank agreement for each property.”
Smith told the board he doesn’t suspect the company would have a problem with providing the disclosure statements.