O’Hara officials want answers on sewer project

After years of attempted negotiations, O’Hara council members say it’s time for Indiana Township to decide if it wants to be a part of the Saxonburg Boulevard sanitary sewer project that is in its final design phase.

Bob Smith, O’Hara council president, said township engineers need to order sewer pipes to serve its residents and if Indiana residents want access to the line later, there may not be enough capacity to add more customers.

“Now is the time for Indiana residents to contact their elected officials and have them talk to O’Hara Township,” he said.

Chuck Steinert, the O’Hara engineer, said the township previously determined its 40-year-old pump stations were beyond repair. Council voted to install sewers along Saxonburg Boulevard, south of the O’Hara/Indiana border, along Brownshill Road, Country Club Lane and Berryhill Road to the Indiana border.

The Saxonburg project will provide sewer lines to the last remaining area of O’Hara that is not served by sanitary sewers, according to Julie Jakubec, O’Hara Township manager.

“All it would cost Indiana residents to get into our lines is $3,300. There’s about four Indiana residents currently interested,” she said. “So it would probably cost the township about $135,000 to join O’Hara’s line.”

She told council she has never received a response from her last email to Daniel Anderson, Indiana’s township manager, that was sent on March 6.

When reached about the dispute, Mr. Anderson said O’Hara’s venture is not the only option for Indiana Township residents. He noted that some residents are served by the Deer Creek Drainage Basin Authority and some by Fox Chapel.

He said some residents may wish to connect to the proposed sanitary line along Saxonburg Boulevard, but he is opposed to paying a large fee in advance.

“We’re hopeful we can arrange something,” he said. “I’m willing to work with O’Hara if it can benefit our residents.”

Longtime O’Hara Councilman Charles Vogel pointed out the project has been planned for nearly 30 years.

“We’ve been discussing this for a long time,” he said. “We are getting requests from Indiana residents to tap into our sewer and the answer is

no. Developers are calling us requesting access because they are planning to build 25 to 30 homes in Indiana.”

“If they call us, we refer them to Dan [Anderson],” Ms. Jakubec said. She said it could cost Indiana residents about $25,000 to connect to an available sewer line if their septics fail in the future.

“I get the impression Dan, their engineer and maybe the whole council is not listening to their own residents,” said O’Hara Councilman George Stewart. “If just a small number of homes could be immediately helped at very little cost, why not join us?”

“I’ve been told they don’t need us. They can go through the Deer Creek Basin Authority,” said O’Hara Councilman Scott Frankowski.

However, Mr. Steinert said that would require the expense of constructing pump stations to connect Indiana customers to the authority in West Deer. Sewage usually runs downhill much more inexpensively.

“I’ve not gotten response to any of my emails,” he said. “We explained we need to know if we should use 15-, 12or 10-inch pipe sizes. We can’t sacrifice our capacity for them.”

Indiana’s Mr. Anderson said Deer Creek indeed is an option for township residents. “We’re trying to be as open as we can and we’re interested in working with them. If our residents can be served by the Saxonburg sewer line, we would do all we can to make that happen.”