North Whitehall Township supervisors approved the construction of a wastewater treatment plant at the Strawberry Acres orchard during a public meeting Dec. 30, 2019, at the township building, a decision which left many attendees angry.

Both township supervisors present at the meeting, Mark Hills and Ronald Heintzelman, voted to grant the applicant conditional use privileges for the facility.

Supervisor Dennis Klusaritz was not in attendance.

The meeting was a continuation of the Dec. 9, 2019 conditional use hearing on the treatment plant, which will process more than 24,000 gallons of wastewater daily and service a proposed 89-unit active adult residential community, also planned for Strawberry Acres.

Landowner Piyush Patel is also a member of the development group, 5077 Overlook Road LLC.

Peter Lehr, attorney with Norris McLaughlin, attended the hearing as a representative of 5077 Overlook Road LLC, and was asked to address concerns raised in the previous session by residents and the board regarding certain responses provided in the conditional use application.

“My understanding of those issues is in relation to comments made by an individual named Tom Vanvreede alleging that parts of our submission were inaccurate or inconsistent, and that certain conflicting or irrelevant information was contained,” Lehr said, referring to audience comments made at the previous hearing.

“My understanding is that Mr. Vanvreede was asking that you reject the application itself as a result of the allegations he was making so I feel that, at this point, it is appropriate of me to make an offer of proof.”

Lehr said the offer would present information which clarified and resolved the issues within the application and asked to read it into the official record.

Addressing residents’ objections to presumed incorrect characterizations of neighboring properties and misleading descriptions of buildings on the Strawberry Acres property, Lehr maintained the applicant’s responses were accurate, highlighting evidence provided in the application attachment and the expert witness testimony presented during the Dec. 9, 2019, hearing.

Lehr also said the application correctly characterized all water and sewage facilities present on the property, and that all wells were properly accounted for in the attachment.

Additionally, he stated concerns about potential noise, odor and light issues were fully addressed in the developer’s responses.

Lehr conceded inaccurate information was provided regarding a question about the proposed use of the property but noted that the attachment correctly outlined the proposed usage and said that all relevant information had been provided to the board in both the attachment and the aforementioned testimony.

Hills, noting concerns about offending odors, requested scheduled odor monitoring and reporting be added as an additional requirement for conditional use.

“I think it was brought up at the last meeting, about odor control,” Hills said. “I don’t want these people to have a lot of problems with odors in the area.”

Lehr indicated the applicant would be open to odor monitoring and reporting on a quarterly basis, a time scale which the board deemed acceptable.

Throughout the meeting residents sought to offer comments and raise concerns about the proposed plant, believing the continuation would accommodate time for additional questioning.

Ryan Ritter, of Redwood Drive, asked if the board was familiar with PFAS, polyfluoroalkyl substances, which he said could contaminate Fells Creek, the proposed drainage waterway, and pose serious health hazards.

“I’m just wondering if you guys should be the ones that are accepting this, without knowing anything behind it,” Ritter said. “When they break ground, and all that arsenic goes into the water, all the stuff that’s in the land, when they break ground, how are they going to stop that?

“All that is going to go into the water, into the stream. Did you guys even do research on this?”

Chris Dougherty, a Clearview Road resident, was also concerned about potential impact on the local water, noting how a nearby orchard’s groundwater had been contaminated by harmful substances.

“If you look back on Mohr Orchards that was a pretty big problem; they turned the soil on an orchard, and as soon as they turned the soil their groundwater was infected with arsenic and lead,” Dougherty said. “It really doesn’t take much to have your groundwater contaminated.”

Ellyn Brixius-Dravuschak, an environmental consultant, land use permit specialist and resident of Thomas Drive, told the board residents’ concerns about odor monitoring were valid and asked the board to consider the issue going forward.

“You really should address this monitoring,” Brixius-Dravuschak said. “I am not really aware of anything that relevantly evaluates odor as opposed to particulates and other VOCs [volatile organic compounds] and such in the air.

“You also need to specify under what conditions because different airspeeds, different temperatures, different humidity all affect what actual odor is detected. Every three months, every six months, that’s not going to tell you anything; that’s not even a snapshot of real conditions.”

The board refused to answer questions or entertain comments from the audience on the proposed plant or subjects raised by Lehr or board members.

Township Solicitor Lisa Young repeatedly noted the period for additional testimony, witness questioning, and audience comments was closed at the end of the Dec. 9, 2019, meeting, and that the current hearing was for board deliberation, consideration of additional conditions and a final ruling.

Residents pushed back, arguing they should be allowed to express their concerns and provide input on new points brought up during the meeting.

“These are new matters that should be opened up to opinion from the audience,” Dan Nemeth, a resident of Clearview Road, said.

After the board had approved the conditional use and adjourned the meeting, some aggravated residents continued to express their displeasure at the lack of answers and verbally confronted the supervisors.

They argued that the decision violated township codes for the preservation of environmental and historically significant areas and accused the board of forcing the application through without regard to proper procedures or residents’ input.

“When the meeting was over last time, it was because of time,” Nemeth said to the board as he left the building.

“Mr. Heintzelman, you cut it off saying, ‘we’re having only three more speakers tonight;’ anything that happened after that is not hearing the people’s voices.

“And you couldn’t wait for the third vote to come in, because you have 45 days to get a written response; instead it’s only two voting and what we get is cynicism, this is terrible.”

According to Young and Township Manager Christopher Garges, the conditional use permit for the wastewater facility was only the first step in the approval process.

Garges told The Press that 5077 Overlook Road LLC would need to file additional conditional use applications for a land development plan and the proposed active adult residential community itself before any further development could take place.