Township commissioners OK site plan for new Robinson water plant
The Municipal Authority of the Township of Robinson’s plans to build a new water treatment plant moved another step forward Monday night when the township Board of Commissioners approved a final site plan for the project.
The board voted 5-0 without comment to approve the site plan, which allows the water authority to continue pursuing construction of a 30,693-square-foot facility at 901 Station St. in Groveton.
The treatment plant itself would take up more than 23,000 square feet and the project includes a pump station building and a 75-foot diameter dome-covered clearwell tank.
The plant will replace the authority’s existing plant, which was built in 1965 and has been modified to increase its treatment capacity.
The water authority doesn’t have a final price tag on the project but it’s believed that it will cost more than $30 million.
The authority provides water and sewage services to roughly 4,900 customers, including the Findlay Township Municipal Authority.
The new plant would provide up to 6 million gallons of treated water per day – four times the amount the original plant could provide. A major upgrade in the 1980s more than doubled the capacity; an authority official said last month that the plant’s “functional capacity” at the present time is roughly 4 million gallons per day.
The new plant will provide up to 6 million gallons with 2 million gallons per day of backup treatment available in case of maintenance or emergencies.
At one time, the water authority had hoped to break ground on the new plant before the end of the year but it appears as though work won’t start until early next year. Authority officials believe it will take about year to build the new treatment plant.
In other action Monday night, the Board of Commissioners approved a resolution requesting a state Multimodal Transportation Fund grant of $3 million to reconstruct Robinson Town Centre Boulevard and several other nearby roads.
Park Manor Boulevard, Robinson Lane and Robinson Centre Drive also would benefit from the grant funding.
Frank Piccolino, the township manager, said the statewide grant program is extremely competitive and the township has come up short several times in past applications.
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