SUMMIT TOWNSHIP -- Only a few hands in the room raised during a township meeting Thursday when the Summit Township sewer authority asked attendees who wanted to go through with a costly sewer overhaul project.

Despite the lack of public support for the project, which will cost the township an estimated $16 million, Dave Barry, chairman of the sewer authority, said the cost of the state Department of Environmental Protection coming to the township for the overhaul would be even greater.

“We have been told we have to do this,” he said at the meeting. “In around 2005, DEP came to the area because of complaints and found that 41% of systems in the area are failing.”

The Herman Fire Hall was filled Thursday evening with Summit Township residents, who had questions about the project, which is projected to be completed by early 2025.

Because of failing residential septic systems, the sewer authority is installing a system that will affect approximately 400 equivalent dwelling units, each of which will have to pay a $6,000 tap-in fee for the line once installed.

An equivalent dwelling unit, or EDU , is a measure of the service needed to serve a single family home. Some businesses will have more than one EDU., according to Barry.

The sewage plan calls for sewer sewage line installation along Herman Road up to the treatment plant, which will be built on the six-acre township lot bought near the old Franklin ballfield on Herman Road.

A portion of Bonniebrook and Brinker Road will be served by a secondary line.

According to Rick Barnett, project engineer, the cost to each individual resident is a number that will help pay for the project while not raising taxes for residents.

"They are not setting the tap-in fee high as it could be," he said. "They are trying to set it at the level where it helps pay for the project, but it's not an owner's burden. "

Barry was hesitant to give a figure for the monthly cost to users, but said the township was aiming to keep monthly bills under $200.

Barnett and Barry also said the township is looking to get 50 to 60 percent of the project cost covered by grant money, Wendey Leslie, Community Development Block Grant administrator for Butler County, explained to those attending that the grant money can help low to moderate income families pay for their tap-in fee.

Betty Baptiste, a longtime Summit Township resident, said she was against the whole project because of the cost. Further, she does not feel comfortable applying for financial assistance.

"I'm against it," she said after the meeting. "It's just going to cost too much."

A Summit Township resident who did not give his name, but referred to himself as a local plumber, said he understands the cost, but the way the line will be installed is inefficient.

"Every sewer system costs a lot," he said. "The problem is the way they are running it; it's going back and forth and it's way too long."

The next meeting of the sewer authority will be at 9 a.m. Aug. 17 at the township office.

Barnett said the authority will tentatively finish the necessary permit applications this summer, but construction will not begin for several more months.