TodayNeighbors voice opposition to CFJMA plan
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Article RatingDirectors of the Cumberland-Franklin Joint Municipal Authority say they will continue their efforts to purchase a farm on the outskirts of Shippensburg for the potential construction of a wastewater treatment plant.
Board President Randy Kendig read a prepared statement of the board’s intention after more than a dozen residents near the targeted farm fired an opening round of opposition to the plan during CFJMA’s regular monthly meeting Oct. 13.
The property in question lies along the banks of Middle Spring Creek in Southampton Township, Franklin County. It is north of the Borough of Shippensburg off Route 696 and Fish Hatchery Road, near the border of Southampton Township, Cumberland County.
Steve Dolbin, who lives near the village of Middle Spring on Fish Hatchery Road, read a statement on behalf of his neighbors: “We protest any acquisition of land by the CFJMA or others that will in any way interact with the Middle Spring stream, the Middle Spring watershed or any of the streams that feed into the Middle Spring stream. We are aware of the CFJMA’s interest in constructing a sewage treatment facility and we are adamantly against such plan or facility.”
Plan legal resistance
Dolbin said the group of residents are planning legal resistance. He said copies of the statement have been forwarded to a variety of local, state and federal agencies and elected officials.
In response, Kendig’s statement asserted that Pennsylvania’s Act 537 makes CFJMA responsible for providing adequate sewer service to existing and future customers.
Kendig said the authority has explored a building site for a future plant for “several years,” while still exploring other options to provide sewer service for a growing area.
Kendig said construction of a new plant is a lengthy project — at least five years —- and that CFJMA “intends to continue good faith negotiations in an attempt to come to an agreement” with the owner of the farmland, who was not identified in the meeting.
The targeted acreage is not far downstream from the existing sewage treatment plant that is used jointly by the Borough of Shippensburg and CFJMA. Borough officials say that plant is operating at about half of its 3.3 million gallons-a-day capacity. They say there is room for more expansion at that site, where 50 acres of land is currently unused.
Negotiating with borough
CFJMA Manager Barry Perry says CFJMA is negotiating with the borough for an additional 300,000 gallons of daily capacity.
“Then, that’s it,” Perry says, meaning more capacity in the existing plant is not available for CFJMA’s use.
Perry says CFJMA wants to have a property purchase arranged before the authority goes to Pennsylvania’s Department of Environmental Protection for permission to build a new plant.
He says it is typical to purchase land before applying for permits. DEP spokeswoman Sandy Roderick agrees.
