East Whiteland Supervisors OK Sewer Maintenance Plan

They weren't exactly happy about it, but the East Whiteland Board of Supervisors adopted a sewer overhaul plan Thursday night.

The three-member panel was wary of the implications of the Act 537 Plan Revision for the Valley Creek Trunk Sewer, which does not specify who will pay for the work. An earlier draft had put the township on the hook to pay undefined, possibly significant costs to repair a section of pipe under Route 202.

The board voted 2-1 in favor of adopting the plan after township supervisor Terry Woodman explained how rejecting it would stymie projects in nearby municipalities. Willistown, Easttown and Tredyffrin townships, and Malvern Borough, are all served by the Valley Creek system.

"They cannot fix their problems, even though they're very anxious to do so ... until this plan is approved by [Department of Environmental Protection]. DEP will not approve this plan until you guys move on it," Woodman said.

The supervisors wanted language inserted that specified Tredyffrin, which owns the system and sells capacity to nearby towns, would pay. According to Woodman, Tredyffrin might have originally planned on pinning the costs of maintenance on developers of the stalled Uptown Worthingtown.

"So where this stands now," supervisor Virginia McMichael said, "is we recognize that there may be an issue. We've taken the position that we're not agreeing to pay for anything, so we haven't locked ourselves into that. We just haven't gotten so far as to get a commitment from Tredyffrin that they will pay for it."

"It's not a perfect solution, but I don't see the point in punishing other townships for somebody else's problem," supervisor Bill Holmes said.

The section of the plan concerning East Whiteland deals with a length of pipe under Route 202 known as LV 57 and 58. The pipe may be flattening under the highway and need to be replaced, although it is also possible that no work will be necessary in the immediate future.

McMichael and Holmes voted to adopt the resolution; supervisor John Mott cast the dissenting vote, saying he wanted to deal now with the issue of who will pay.