Brownsville
Swan Plan project discussed BROWNSVILLE – Once funding is received, it won’t take long to prepare the Swan Plan sewer line project for bids. That’s what Bill Johnson of Fayette Engineering told the Brownsville Municipal Authority Tuesday. The Swan Plan project is located in Luzerne Township and is being done by the Brownsville Authority at the request of the Luzerne Township Sewer Authority. Joe Terravecchia, the vice-chairman of the Luzerne Township Authority attended the Brownsville meeting.
“If we’re looking at a spring start on the project, we haven’t advised the residents of any tap-in fees to give them time to save up,” Terravecchia said. “People are waiting to see surveyors.”
Johnson said surveying and other preliminary work would not be done until the funding is obtained through the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s Rural Development program. “If you don’t close on the loan, all the rest of this is moot,” Johnson said.
Johnson said he has no reason to believe that the federal funding for the project won’t be made available in the near future. There was a delay over the summer while the site was being studied for a protected plant, the tall larkspur, but no larkspur was found in the project area, Johnson said, so the funding should no longer be on hold.
As for the tap-in fee, Johnson said it’s too early to give residents a firm figure.
“We initially projected those around $1,800. I don’t expect to see that change drastically. We won’t know until we have a final offer from Rural Development,” Johnson said.
Johnson said that there shouldn’t be any worries about a spring start for the project, if the funding is released this year.
“Once we get the go ahead to work, that’s exactly what we’re going to do. This project isn’t big enough to take six months,” Johnson said. “The field work out there is going to take less than three weeks.”
In a related matter, the authority approved a contract with bond counsel Chris Brewer of Dinsmore and Shoal. Brewer’s fee for serving as the attorney for the Rural Development loan is not to exceed $14,000 plus costs. Solicitor Ernie DeHaas said no money would be paid if the loan were not approved.