The Middletown Township Board of Supervisors are engaging an environmental attorney and have plans to involve themselves.
Middletown Township will be hiring an environmental attorney to make sure it will have a say in the proposed wastewater treatment plant in Newtown Township near the border of the two municipalities.
Middletown Township Solicitor James Esposito explained a two-pronged approach to look into the plant’s construction and have a say.
The strategy involves the township participating in the Pennsylvania Department of Environmental Protection (DEP) permitting processes and local zoning hearings in Newtown Township.
“We would propose in those three permitting phases to be involved, comment on the application, review the applications and discuss all of these with DEP,” Esposito explained. He added that if approvals were granted, the township would have the option to appeal decisions to the Environmental Hearing Board.
Esposito emphasized the importance of securing party status at Newtown’s Zoning Hearing Board.
Gaining party status would allow Middletown Township to “bring witnesses, cross-examine and potentially appeal to the court,” he said.
The timeline for the plant’s approval process remains uncertain, with Esposito noting it could take years for all necessary permits and approvals to be secured. However, he stressed the importance of early involvement in the process.
Mark Freed, who works for township solicitor Curtin and Heefner, has been brought on to assist in the matter.
Freed is a longtime municipal attorney with a focus on environmental law. He previously served as assistant counsel for the Pennsylvania Department of Environmental Protection and as a prosecutor for the Pennsylvania Attorney General Office’s Environmental Crimes Section.
The Middletown Township Environmental Advisory Council is also contributing to the effort and preparing a formal memo detailing environmental concerns.
The proposed Newtown Bucks County Joint Municipal Authority wastewater plant would be located on a 17.5-acre site off Lower Silver Lake Road and University Drive near the Newtown Bypass, just a few hundred feet away from the border with Middletown Township. The authority presented their proposal before Newtown Township and Middletown Township officials last year.
Residents have raised concerns over the wastewater plant being so close to waterways, Core Creek Park, and homes and businesses in the two townships.
The Stop the Newtown Sewer Plant grassroots group has sprung up in the wake of the plan being proposed.
The Middletown Township Board of Supervisors authorized Esposito to draft a formal letter to the Pennsylvania Department of Environmental Protection that would declare Middletown Township as an interested party due to its status as a bordering municipality.
Township Engineer Isaac Kessler highlighted concerns about a plant’s potential impact on water quality and the township’s MS4 stormwater management program. He plans to begin a dialogue with DEP engineers about how the proposed plant might affect Middletown Township’s approved Total Maximum Daily Load (TMDL) plan for reducing pollutants in local waterways.
“We want to look at any alternatives that this project may have that would not involve discharging downstream to Core Creek, as well as opportunities of having it just located somewhere different entirely,” Kessler said.
Bill Everett, who represents the Stop the Newtown Sewer Plant organization, provided an update on their efforts and said opposition to the plan is growing.
The group has launched a website, stoptheplant.net, and established the stopthenewtownsewerplant@gmail.com email address.
“We are actively setting meetings with local politicians, state politicians, and, ultimately, congressional politicians to make sure they’re aware of the concerns of the public from our grassroots perspective,” Everett said.
In speaking before the supervisors on Monday evening, Everett stated that residents from Newtown Township, Middletown Township, and Lower Makefield Township should be paying attention and speaking out against the plan.
Andy Warren, a Middletown Township resident and former Bucks County commissioner, said a new federal administration starting next week could cut the environmental review process. He urged the township to fight the proposal.
Supervisor Dana Kane said she opposes the plant and first heard about the plan from an article on LevittownNow.com.
Supervisors Chairperson Mike Ksiazek noted the community’s engagement since news of the plant proposal surfaced.
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