Peters Township approves grant application, contracts
Observer-Reporter
Peters Township council voted Monday night to approve a grant application in order to move forward with Department of Environmental Protection (DEP) mandated projects.
Township officials hope to receive up to $300,000 from the Pennsylvania Department of Community and Economic Development to work on reducing sediment and phosphorus from flowing into Brush Run Creek.
Paul Lauer, township manager, explained at the meeting that DEP requires that Peters complete several projects over the next 25 to 30 years to maintain their municipal separate storm sewer system [MS4] permit.
“We have an obligation to take on this project and complete it in the first five years of our MS4 permit. We have not done that. There will be a point in time where whether we get funding or not, we will have to go ahead with this project,” Lauer said.
The first project the township plans to tackle is floodplain restoration on township-owned property in the Briarcliff area.
According to Lauer, the project is expected to cost about $1 million. It will involve reconnecting a portion of Brush Run Creek and two smaller tributaries to the historic floodplain.
“The hammer that DEP has is freezing all state funds coming to Peters Township, including things like liquid fuels money and the pension funds, and you can’t afford to have that happen,” Lauer said.
Lauer added that the township will continue to search for potential sources of funding.
Also at Monday’s meeting, council awarded a more than $167,000 contract to Cleveland, Ohio-based Pavement Technology for the street rejuvenator program.
Road “rejuvenation” involves restoring and preserving asphalt on the roads, according to Pavement Technology’s website.
Council awarded another contract to West Brownsville-based Slusarczyk Excavating for the rehabilitation of two stormwater detention ponds owned by the township. Slusarczyk Excavating was the lowest bid of six the township received, coming in at $25,400.
The work will be completed at the detention ponds at Springdale and Ross Creek Farms.