Feb 23, 2005 By Christine Haines 3 min read

BROWNSVILLE – The start of construction on a new sewage treatment plant for the Brownsville Municipal Authority is creeping closer. Solicitor Ernest DeHaas said he has received the final documents he needs from the four municipalities that must guarantee the Pennsylvania Infrastructure Investment Authority (PENNVEST) loan for the municipal authority.

Those documents will be sent to the state by the end of this week.

DeHaas said once the guarantee documents are approved by the state, the authority can close its loan agreement with PENNVEST.

The closing is tentatively scheduled for March 8, but DeHaas said it may take the state a bit longer to give approval to the guarantee documents, pushing the closing off to the middle or end of March.

The authority meanwhile is seeking a $400,000 line of credit from National City Bank to use in the event bills come due before PENNVEST funding is released, and to cover the bills at the end of the project before PENNVEST releases the last five percent of the project funding.

Authority board member Henry Vulcan is negotiating the agreement with National City, which has already agreed to reduce the initial fees on the line of credit from $4,000 to $1,000, Vulcan said.

The authority Tuesday also approved a right-of-way agreement with Verizon for utility poles and lines to be relocated for the new treatment plant. An agreement for electrical service is awaiting review by DeHaas before the authority considers it.

The authority is still in the process of acquiring rights of way for pump stations. The authority Tuesday decided to offer the property owners the current assessed value of the properties in question after having problems finding a qualified assessor for commercial properties.

Engineer Glenn Wolfe said Fayette Engineering will submit a revised plan to the state Department of Environmental Protection for the second phase of the system upgrade, including detailed plans for the sewerage on Market Street and several other borough streets.

Wolfe said he is also seeking DEP permission to use directional boring for the Walnut Street extension project that includes a section with a 35 percent grade.

Wolfe said he will seek an exception to the DEP’s manhole requirement for that section, since there are no taps on it and the manholes would serve no purpose, as well as being difficult to construct due to the slope.

Wolfe said using directional boring, which is done with remote control equipment, would also reduce the possibility of erosion problems in that area.