Vernon sewer plan to take months

VERNON — Settling on an expansion plan for Vernon’s sewer system will likely take nine months to a year, Municipal Utilities Authority Engineer Ceren Aralp said at a joint meeting with the Township Council on Thursday.
According to Aralp, that’s how long it will take any proposed changes to the sewer system to wind their way through a maze of approvals at the county and state levels. And it will only be after those approvals are secured that the MUA will be able to come back to the council to ask for money to fund an expansion and get to work.
Aralp’s explanation of the process came at a joint meeting of the MUA and Township Council at which a room packed full of residents aired their concerns and frustrations with rising rates.
Current sewer costs, they said, are unsustainable and will only continue to drive people out of Vernon.
“We have so many neighbors who are struggling, and hotel room owners who are struggling,” Great Gorge resident Mark Bower said. “Something has to be done to alleviate the burden the MUA sewer system has put upon them.”
Getting something done was the entire point of Thursday’s meeting, but jumping through regulatory hoops to move forward will take time, officials indicated.
How the process worksSince the council earlier this month passed a resolution endorsing an amendment to the town’s wastewater management plan for the Route 94 corridor and McAfee areas of town, Aralp said work can now begin on getting those approvals.
The first step, she said, will be for her to assess where in the Route 94 and Mcafee areas it is feasible to add sewers. Once that’s complete, Aralp said the MUA will informally meet with county officials for feedback. The next hurdle to clear will be obtaining approval from the 201PAC, a committee established by the county freeholder board that is tasked with reviewing changes to any wastewater and potable water programs. From there, it’s on the State Department of Environmental protection.
“Before they give an OK to even start the discussion, you can’t even go to DEP,” Aralp explained. “After you go through them, you go to DEP and you sit down and say ‘Hey, these are the areas we think could happen (for a sewer expansion).’ If they see anything that’s killing it, like there’s a certain habitat limitation, they will say ‘no way’ and that’s the end of it. If not, the discussion progresses and then there’s an area that forms.”
Aralp said the plan would have to conform to DEP requirements, including public hearings to go over the specs and costs and solicit feedback. All that time and effort, she said, goes into just changing the township’s wastewater management plan. The MUA would then have to bring that plan back to the council to secure funding before starting construction.
Susan Weissbach of Great Gorge Village said it’s great the ball is rolling, but noted such an extended timeline will offer little relief to cash-strapped residents who will be forced to bear the brunt of sewer rate increases in the meantime.
“There’s nothing really you can do for us. The rates are going to continue to go up,” she said. “Look for a developer to buy those condos, because they’re not going to be there. If you’re depending on ratepayers, in four years Great Gorge will be gone.”
Ultimatum on Pump Station #2The joint meeting also addressed moving ahead with much-needed repairs to Pump Station #2. Those repairs, MUA officials and Mayor Harry Shortway said, should have been completed by Mountain Creek long ago per a contract agreement with the township.
MUA Executive Director John Scerbo said Mountain Creek finally submitted a letter outlining its projected capacity requirements, but noted the MUA engineer doesn’t agree with those figures. The MUA and Mountain Creek are also debating the location for the new pump station, as well as the merits of the plan the resort submitted for the new station.
Scerbo said the MUA is setting up a meeting with Mountain Creek to hash out their differences, but suggested the council should set a hard deadline for Mountain Creek to get to work. According to the terms of the resort’s 2012 agreement with the town, upgrades to Pump Station #2 should have been completed in 2013. So far, Shortway said no action has been taken, leaving Pump Station #2 in a state of dangerous disrepair.
Scerbo advocated for a deadline of May 30, after which point he said the township could move forward with its own repair plans if Mountain Creek had not started work on the station. The town could build the station to suit its own projected specifications and then put an assessment and/or a lien on Mountain Creek to pay for the work after the fact. The resort could then add any additional capacity it needed in subsequent construction that it would have to pay for on its own, he said.
“At least that would show them that we’re serious about moving forward and getting something done, and we’re not going to play around with the nonsense,” Scerbo said.
Council President Jean Murphy, though, noted the council should consider that the town may have to assume those repair costs if Mountain Creek ever declares bankruptcy.
Murphy indicated the council was previously informed work to repair the pump station will take 18 to 24 months to complete. Shortway said estimates have pegged the cost at between $1.2 million and $1.5 million.