Post by Venter on Mar 26, 2014 9:52:40 GMT -5
Times Article this morning about the "Big Pipe" and the York Water / GMA Proposal.
I didn't make the meeting, but according to the article, Paul Kellett spoke for the Adams County Watershed Alliance, and Jim Hines, President and Representative of York Water.
Times Reporter Jim Hale, wrote about the people's responses, but NOTHING of the Substance of the Issues being Debated.
Was there a Video of the meeting made?
Time for a reprint of my decals:
"Drink in Gettysburg - Pee In Straban" ©
For those of you with subscriptions: www.gettysburgtimes.com/news/local/article_4ded3ed8-829a-5e7e-a292-8adfcf282ff2.html
I didn't make the meeting, but according to the article, Paul Kellett spoke for the Adams County Watershed Alliance, and Jim Hines, President and Representative of York Water.
Times Reporter Jim Hale, wrote about the people's responses, but NOTHING of the Substance of the Issues being Debated.
Was there a Video of the meeting made?
Time for a reprint of my decals:
"Drink in Gettysburg - Pee In Straban" ©
For those of you with subscriptions: www.gettysburgtimes.com/news/local/article_4ded3ed8-829a-5e7e-a292-8adfcf282ff2.html
Range of views aired at 'Big Pipe' session
[Photo]
FLOOD OF INFORMATION - During Tuesday's public information session in Gettysburg, York Water Company President Jeff Hines, left, and Paul Kellett, right, who is active in the Watershed Alliance of Adams County and other local groups, offered differing calculations of the Big Pipe proposal's costs and effects on customers' rates. (Jim Hale/Gettysburg Times)
Posted: Wednesday, March 26, 2014 12:06 am | Updated: 8:25 am, Wed Mar 26, 2014.
BY JIM HALE Times Staff Writer
A crowd of about 75 attended Tuesday's public information session on a proposed connection between the Gettysburg Municipal Authority (GMA) and the York Water Company, nicknamed "the Big Pipe."
In addition to presentations by officials, 16 individuals rose to speak during the two-hour event, which the multi-state Susquehanna River Basin Commission (SRBC) and the Pennsylvania Department of Environmental Protection (DEP) hosted jointly at the Adams County Agricultural and Natural Resource Center on Old Harrisburg Road.
Speakers' views ranged from a passionate defense of the Susquehanna's ecology to concerns about the effect of development on Adams County's quality of life to pleas for proactive steps that would foster economic growth and enable young people to remain in Adams County.
At issue is GMA's request to divert up to 2 million gallons of water per day from the Susquehanna River Basin to the Potomac River Basin via the proposed interconnection.
The York system, which draws from the Susquehanna, and the GMA system, which drains into both basins, would meet in Straban Township.
No decision has been made yet, and another formal public hearing, the third since 2006, will be convened prior to a final determination, said SRBC Executive Director Andrew Dehoff.
York Water Company President Jeff Hines wrangled face-to-face with Paul Kellett, who is active in the Watershed Alliance of Adams County and other local groups. The two offered widely divergent calculations about the proposal's costs and effects on rates.
Speakers asked whether SRBC could cut water to GMA during drought conditions. Dehoff and Hines said it would be up to York to apportion any reductions among its customers.
Adams Electric Cooperative Chief Executive Officer Steve Rasmussen urged concerned citizens to investigate York, calling it a "very community-minded" company. During his three years on the York company's board, Rasmussen said he has seen that it operates "almost like a cooperative" rather than as a typical investor-owned utility.
Cumberland Township resident Susan Paddock said it is "absurd" for the SRBC to consider the matter now, while Cumberland and Straban townships are still working with Gettysburg to create a new comprehensive plan to guide future growth.
SRBC hydrologist Jay Cook said staff members are "monitoring" the comprehensive plan process.
Local developer Dave Sites said he has seen three comprehensive plans come and go without effect because municipalities end up not backing them up with agreed-upon zoning. He said he actually shares other speakers' concerns that too much development can reduce the area's quality of life. However, he said the quality of life can be sustainable only if it is possible for young people of the future to live here. Opponents of the Big Pipe need to offer solutions about how to enable people who are not over 55 to remain, he said.
Scot Pitzer did not identify himself as a member of the Gettysburg Borough Council, but as "a young professional who would like to continue to live and work here," which he said would require economic opportunities. He said adequate infrastructure is necessary to avoid "mediocrity," and he doesn't know where growth would make sense other than on the Route 30 corridor that the Big Pipe would traverse.
"I don't want to subsidize developers," said Gettysburg resident Janet Powers.
Diana Young, with the GMA's engineering firm of Buchhart Horn Inc., said wells drilled by developers reduce tapping fees collected by GMA, so they would amount to a cost, just like wells drilled by GMA to increase supply as an alternative to the Big Pipe. A proposed 2,000-home development has been removed from calculations because it would provide its own wells, she said.
Diverting from the Susquehanna basin would lead to less dilution of industrial pollution there said York City Council member Michael Helfrich, who is also "riverkeeper" for the Stewards of the Lower Susquehanna. He said the Big Pipe would be a "pyramid scheme" pushing infrastructure costs off on new customers while "at the same time harming your neighbors."
In a 25-minute presentation at the meeting's outset, GMA Utilities Manager Mark Guise laid out the GMA Board's reasoning behind applying for the diversion permit.
He offered three different scenarios for future water needs: at the low end based on population projections alone; in the medium range according to development projections based on surveys of owners and known plans; and at the high end based on theoretical maximum buildout according to current zoning.
[Photo]
FLOOD OF INFORMATION - During Tuesday's public information session in Gettysburg, York Water Company President Jeff Hines, left, and Paul Kellett, right, who is active in the Watershed Alliance of Adams County and other local groups, offered differing calculations of the Big Pipe proposal's costs and effects on customers' rates. (Jim Hale/Gettysburg Times)
Posted: Wednesday, March 26, 2014 12:06 am | Updated: 8:25 am, Wed Mar 26, 2014.
BY JIM HALE Times Staff Writer
A crowd of about 75 attended Tuesday's public information session on a proposed connection between the Gettysburg Municipal Authority (GMA) and the York Water Company, nicknamed "the Big Pipe."
In addition to presentations by officials, 16 individuals rose to speak during the two-hour event, which the multi-state Susquehanna River Basin Commission (SRBC) and the Pennsylvania Department of Environmental Protection (DEP) hosted jointly at the Adams County Agricultural and Natural Resource Center on Old Harrisburg Road.
Speakers' views ranged from a passionate defense of the Susquehanna's ecology to concerns about the effect of development on Adams County's quality of life to pleas for proactive steps that would foster economic growth and enable young people to remain in Adams County.
At issue is GMA's request to divert up to 2 million gallons of water per day from the Susquehanna River Basin to the Potomac River Basin via the proposed interconnection.
The York system, which draws from the Susquehanna, and the GMA system, which drains into both basins, would meet in Straban Township.
No decision has been made yet, and another formal public hearing, the third since 2006, will be convened prior to a final determination, said SRBC Executive Director Andrew Dehoff.
York Water Company President Jeff Hines wrangled face-to-face with Paul Kellett, who is active in the Watershed Alliance of Adams County and other local groups. The two offered widely divergent calculations about the proposal's costs and effects on rates.
Speakers asked whether SRBC could cut water to GMA during drought conditions. Dehoff and Hines said it would be up to York to apportion any reductions among its customers.
Adams Electric Cooperative Chief Executive Officer Steve Rasmussen urged concerned citizens to investigate York, calling it a "very community-minded" company. During his three years on the York company's board, Rasmussen said he has seen that it operates "almost like a cooperative" rather than as a typical investor-owned utility.
Cumberland Township resident Susan Paddock said it is "absurd" for the SRBC to consider the matter now, while Cumberland and Straban townships are still working with Gettysburg to create a new comprehensive plan to guide future growth.
SRBC hydrologist Jay Cook said staff members are "monitoring" the comprehensive plan process.
Local developer Dave Sites said he has seen three comprehensive plans come and go without effect because municipalities end up not backing them up with agreed-upon zoning. He said he actually shares other speakers' concerns that too much development can reduce the area's quality of life. However, he said the quality of life can be sustainable only if it is possible for young people of the future to live here. Opponents of the Big Pipe need to offer solutions about how to enable people who are not over 55 to remain, he said.
Scot Pitzer did not identify himself as a member of the Gettysburg Borough Council, but as "a young professional who would like to continue to live and work here," which he said would require economic opportunities. He said adequate infrastructure is necessary to avoid "mediocrity," and he doesn't know where growth would make sense other than on the Route 30 corridor that the Big Pipe would traverse.
"I don't want to subsidize developers," said Gettysburg resident Janet Powers.
Diana Young, with the GMA's engineering firm of Buchhart Horn Inc., said wells drilled by developers reduce tapping fees collected by GMA, so they would amount to a cost, just like wells drilled by GMA to increase supply as an alternative to the Big Pipe. A proposed 2,000-home development has been removed from calculations because it would provide its own wells, she said.
Diverting from the Susquehanna basin would lead to less dilution of industrial pollution there said York City Council member Michael Helfrich, who is also "riverkeeper" for the Stewards of the Lower Susquehanna. He said the Big Pipe would be a "pyramid scheme" pushing infrastructure costs off on new customers while "at the same time harming your neighbors."
In a 25-minute presentation at the meeting's outset, GMA Utilities Manager Mark Guise laid out the GMA Board's reasoning behind applying for the diversion permit.
He offered three different scenarios for future water needs: at the low end based on population projections alone; in the medium range according to development projections based on surveys of owners and known plans; and at the high end based on theoretical maximum buildout according to current zoning.