Water, sewer permis to be OK’d after wastewater plan comments

Permits are for proposed schools on Mansfield Road East

By:David Koch
   MANSFIELD — Water and sewer permit approvals for proposed schools in the township can begin after a public comment period for amendments to a township wastewater plan comes to an end.
   The approval for the permits, by the Department of Environmental Protection, are for a proposed upper elementary and middle school on Mansfield Road East.
   A 10-day public comment period for an amendment to the Tri-County Water Quality Management Plan and Mansfield’s Wastewater Management Plan ends tomorrow.
   The public comment period began on Sept. 4.
   The amendment would allow a line to pump water from the Mansfield project wells to the proposed elementary and middle school and into Northern Burlington High School.
   It also would allow up to 70,000 gallons of waste water a day to be treated at the existing sewer plant in the nearby Mapleton development.
   Currently, neither the Tri-County Water Quality Management Plan or the yet-to-be-approved township’s Wastewater Management Plan designate that area to be sewered.
   "If it’s not in your (township) waste water management plan, it needs an amendment," said DEP spokeswoman Loretta O’Donell.
   The area also has been designated an Agricultural Development Area for farmland preservation by the Burlington County Agricultural Development Board.
   However, a resolution passed by the agricultural board allows any land owned by federal, state, or municipal government to be used for non-agricultural use.
   If the proposed amendments make it through the 10-day public comment period with no objections, the school boards need to apply to the DEP’s Bureau of Safe Drinking Water for a water line, and to the DEP’s Waste Water Bureau for a sewer line, said Ms. O’Donell.
   Joseph Bruni, superintendent of the Mansfield School District, said he hopes to have all the needed permits and begin construction on the proposed Millington Woods Elementary School by January of next year.
   Currently, John Hydock Elementary School has 515 students this year, an increase of 49 from last year.
   Northern Burlington County Regional Middle School has 66 more students at the start of this school year, up from he 599 students at the end of May.
   Mr. Bruni said he doesn’t expect much public comment on the proposed amendment because both of the water and sewer lines run largely through land owned by Northern Burlington County Regional School District.
   If there is any public comment on the proposed amendments, he or she can request a public hearing or extend the public comment period for up to 30 days.