WHEATLAND

The engineer responsible for the plan to solve a water drainage problem on the newly built homes on Woodland Avenue was back before Wheatland council Wednesday asking for changes in the agreement council approved a month ago.

Jon Snyder, project engineer for Hickory Engineering Inc., Hermitage, said one of the five homeowners balked at granting a 15-foot easement to allow borough workers onto the properties to maintain the storm sewer line that is to be built behind the homes.

The line is to channel surface and underground water away from the homes, which might be causing the mold problem in them.

Community Homebuyers Inc., a non-profit affiliate of Mercer County Housing Authority, has agreed to pay for the work and has hired a second consultant, Microbac Laboratories, Erie, to work on a mold plan.

Hickory had initially asked the borough for 10-foot easements, but upped it to 15 feet at the request of borough street department workers, who wanted more room to work and maneuver their trucks.

Snyder declined to identify the homeowner who wouldn't grant the easement.

Councilman Don Stinedurf said Monday his son, D.J. Stinedurf, of 65 Woodland, and Lynne Camerlengo, of 85 Woodland, were against the 15-foot easements for long-term maintenance. They are willing to allow 15-foot easements for construction of line, but will grant only 10 feet for long-term maintenance, he said.

Borough secretary Sharon Stinedurf said she talked with street worker Andrew "Bucky" Clarke.

"They said they can work with 10 feet as long as the property owners know they might have to back their trucks onto their properties," said Mrs. Stinedurf, wife of the councilman and mother of D.J. Stinedurf.

Snyder said he also needed council to clarify its motion of last month. The borough needed to agree to maintain the entire pipe system and catch basins, not just the catch basins, he said.

Council approved the request, with Stinedurf abstaining.

In a related matter, council opened one bid to buy a borough-owned lot on Mercer Avenue. Herb Guthrie, who lives next door at 121 Mercer, offered $1,000.

Council wants Guthrie to grant an easement for a future sewer line.

Council said it would use the easement if the plan to take water away from the Woodland homes fails. The proposed storm sewer line for Woodland has an L-shaped bend.

"In case that pipe fails up the hill, they can straighten it," by running it through the property Guthrie wants to buy, said Council President David Cusick.

But council tabled action on the bid because no one knew what the cost would be to draft the easement.

You can e-mail Herald Staff Writer Joe Pinchot at
jpinchot@sharon-herald.com