Connoquenessing Township displays potential Act 537 plan proposal
CONNOQUENESSING TWP — Residents got a look at one of the potential plans for a townshipwide sewage system during a board of supervisors meeting Wednesday night, March 4.
The township has until July 1 to submit an updated Act 537 public sewage plan to Pennsylvania’s Department of Environmental Protection which will adequately address its sewage disposal needs. Last summer, the township submitted an Act 537 plan to the DEP under controversial circumstances, only for the plan to be denied by the agency.
Since then, two supervisors — the same two that voted in favor of submitting that original plan — have left the board and been replaced.
Township Supervisor Mark Williams told the Butler Eagle that the preliminary plan presented Wednesday night is just one “alternative” out of several potential Act 537 plans that could be submitted to the DEP later this year.
“It’s a new alternative that was not fully investigated during the previous planning phase,” Williams said. “We’re adding a new alternative.”
Williams, who took office in January, says that the proposal would focus on addressing several “subareas,” including Winterwood Drive and Kreiss Road, with multiple sewage solutions.
“We’re not just doing one big sewer,” Williams said. “We are looking at a combination of low pressure, gravity and on-lot management.”
Williams added that the proposal addresses many of the suggestions the DEP brought up in its rejection letter, which it sent to the township upon denying the original Act 537 plan submission in December 2025.
Among the suggestions were to reduce the scope and cost of the project by focusing on several “study areas” and potentially addressing sewage needs with a combination of solutions instead of just one.
“I’d say mid-to-late next month, we’ll probably have something out for public review, and to give to the planning agencies as well,” said township engineer Drew Null.
“Nothing is final,” Williams said. “There’s a lot of refinement we need to do, which we will do over the next month.”
Change may come soon to the township’s building on Township Drive.
Supervisors voted to hire LSSE, the township’s engineering firm, to study the building and come up with a list of necessary materials and improvements and create a cost estimate for a future bid to advertise for a repair project.
“There’s a leaky roof that’s been an issue for several years, and there’s just different building maintenance issues,” Supervisor Angela Fleeger said.
In addition, as township resident Dave Dreher pointed out during public comment, a tile fell from the ceiling during (or shortly after) the previous supervisors meeting in February.
