Engineer: New sewer plant still on track to go out for bids in late ’23 or early ’24
KAYLEE LINDENMUTH / SENTINEL FILE PHOTO - The Shenandoah sewer plant on August 1, 2018.
SHENANDOAH – The Shenandoah Sewer Authority was told Wednesday that they are still on track to seek bids for their new sewer plant late this year or early next year.
Chris McCoach, of Alfred, Benesch, and Co., provided the update as part of his engineer’s report at Wednesday’s regular meeting.
He said one of the hold-ups is a permit from PADEP, and Shenandoah’s is one of about 70 “in limbo.”
“I think we’ll still meet our goal of getting it out to bid by the end of the year or beginning of next year, so that we can open bids come Spring and start construction in late spring or early summer next year,” McCoach said.
The new plant — funded by a $5,474,000 grant and $12,532,000 loan from the United States Department of Agriculture’s Rural Utilities Service — would replace the current plant near William Penn, which was built nearly 50 years ago.
That grant was awarded in 2018, and Andrew Szczyglak, a member of the sewer authority board, asked if there would be any issue should there be any other delay.
“We had our monthly status update this morning with RUS,” McCoach said. “No, they are looking to extend it once we have our schedule finalized.”
Also related to the new plant, Bill Burke, the authority’s solicitor, provided an update on negotiations with PennDOT over a portion of land needed to construct the new plant.
The new plant would be built adjacent to the current plant to ease the transition between them, McCoach said, and a portion of PennDOT’s land for Route 54 is necessary for the new plant.
In other business, the authority approved a motion to seek grant funding from the state Local Share Account.
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