CONNOQUENESSING — The Connoquenessing Township supervisors voted Monday to reevaluate the sewage system plan that was proposed to serve hundreds of residents in the township.

The attendance at the township meetings regarding the sewer plan grew large enough for Monday's meeting to be moved to the Connoquenessing Volunteer Fire Company fire hall, where about 20 people spoke in opposition to the project, but more than 100 were in attendance.

After hearing concerns about the price and scale of the project from residents, which was set to cost an estimated $22.5 million with a proposed $3,800 tap-in fee, the township supervisors made the decision to speak with the state Department of Environmental Protection about what changes can be made to the plan they had been working with.

“It will go through, but I would like to try to coordinate it mainly for the Route 68 corridor,” said supervisor chairman Terry Steinheiser. “It's going to take a little more time to restructure that. I don't want to be invasive on properties if we don't have to.”

The supervisors were in agreement that facilities along Route 68 in the township had the most pressing need for a sewage system and treatment plant, so it will likely be the focus as they begin restructuring the plan.

The township sewer authority met immediately following the supervisors, where the board approved the resignation of two members.

The remaining members of the sewer authority, who emphasized that their position is unpaid, encouraged people in attendance to apply for the vacant spots by contacting the township and applying by Nov. 1.

“We have two vacancies on the board,” said sewer authority secretary Brendan Linton, “please apply.”

Many people who spoke at the meetings had previously voiced their concerns with the sewer system project and the process by which the township leaders had approached the execution.

Hearing that the supervisors would review and possibly redraw the plans was a positive sign for some in attendance, but resident Chris Klink remembers when the township went through a similar process in 2016. Klink had gathered signatures for a petition against the system then, and she collected about 150 at Monday's meeting as well.

“We have been doing this since 2016,” she said. “They say they're going to stop and do it in sections and then they just come back.”

Supervisor vice chairman Edward Rupert said he wasn't involved in township leadership in 2005, but that's when pressure from the DEP first started.

The supervisors said that although there is opposition to the sewage system project, some kind of system will eventually be installed in Connoquenessing Township.

“It's something the DEP wants us to do,” Rupert said in opening remarks at the meeting. “It's for the benefit of the whole township, but it all doesn't have to be done, in my mind, today.”