West Penn board seeks input on water extraction ordinance

West Penn Township eventually plans to hire a water extraction lawyer to review its outdated water extraction ordinance.

The township’s board of supervisors on Tuesday agreed to entertain a proposal from a law firm that would be recommended by the township’s Water Resource & Planning Steering Committee.

Supervisors took no action on a motion on the board’s meeting agenda to approve the township planning commission’s recommendations to hire an attorney that specializes in water resources and water extraction.

Rather, the board is seeking an engagement letter for the attorney to review the proposed ordinance to make sure it’s legal and enforceable, as well as to give advice and make comments and suggestions on it.

Last month, board Chairman Tony Prudenti said the board would recommend that the township look to hire a water extraction lawyer to review the ordinance and make sure it falls within all the guidelines.

At that time, resident David Lapinsky said the committee has been meeting the past several months and did research and helped put together an outline of all the information to take into account to create the ordinance.

The ordinance has been presented to both supervisors and the planning commission for their input on the draft.

Supervisors in September named nine people to the committee at the suggestion of Prudenti, who noted that water extraction has been a major issue and he wanted to update the township’s ordinance.

In June, Lapinsky asked supervisors to put a moratorium on water extraction in the community because he believes what’s taking place is not water harvesting, but rather, water extraction.

Prudenti said that was his recommendation on his very first day in office, but that a former board solicitor had left former board solicitor Holly Heintzelman a letter indicating that a moratorium would not be legal.

James Land Jr., president and owner of Ringgold Acquisition Group II LLC, previously noted that a settlement was recently reached between M.C. Resource Development Company and DEP on property known as Pine Valley, which has been a raw spring water source for bottled water plants.

In May, Prudenti said his solution to get truck traffic off the township’s roads was to negotiate a water extraction and road agreement with Land, and suggested that at Land’s expense, he run a pipeline out onto a state road.

Prudenti said the township was trying to update the township’s water extraction ordinance to try to make it a little bit tougher than it is right now.

As a starting point, Prudenti proposed they negotiate that the zone of influence be extended to a 1½-mile radius. The current DEP zone of influence is a quarter-mile, he said.

Prudenti also suggested constructing a pipeline to state roads for the loading of water into trucks, with the township helping procure rights of way if it is not able to use its own.

Additionally, Prudenti suggested a $10,000 yearly road maintenance and repair fee for each well site for roads affected by truck traffic.

Prudenti has said on multiple occasions that the township has to look at protecting residents’ wells, eliminating truck traffic and saving roads.