CONNOQUENESSING TWP — A township mobile home park ordered to repair its overflowing septic system or close is asking a judge to overturn the township supervisors' ruling.

William Robinson Jr., attorney for the Golden L Mobile Home Park and its owner, Faye Bennett, argued Wednesday that the township supervisors' ruling in December 2006 was without any new evidence of sewage violations.

Arguing before Butler County Judge Marilyn Horan, Robinson said the township's sewage enforcement officer, Colleen Martin, never tested additional samples before the second hearing to provide evidence of continuing overflows.

"Interestingly, despite her ability to do so, there was no evidence presented at the second hearing,"he said.

After the second hearing, supervisors voted 3 to 0 to revoke the permit and fine the Golden L's owner, Faye Bennett, $2,000 per week until the systems are repaired or the mobile home park is closed for violating state law on the disposal of sewage. Bennett must also pay attorney's fees and court costs, plus interest.

Under the law, human excrement or material containing human excrement cannot be placed, buried or otherwise disposed where it is likely to gain access to groundwater.

Township solicitor Michael Gallagher argued that the township's sewage enforcement officer found numerous hot spots when she did her initial testing that showed a connection between the sewage and the mobile home park.

He also reiterated testimony from a sewage expert during the Golden L's November 2006 appeal hearing.

Thomas Hartwig, an engineer with Malcolm Pirnie, had testified that the type of soil at the mobile home park just off of Route 422 makes the location unsuitable for the type of on-lot systems it currently has.

He said the high water table means the park's absorption fields need to be at least 0.64 acres, instead its current 0.15 acre size.

Those fields, however, currently handle the wastewater from the 30 occupied units, he said.

Robinson noted testimony at the previous appeal hearing from an expert hired by Golden L, Elizabeth Speicher, a certified sewage enforcement officer and designer of Golden L's sand mound system.

Robinson reiterated her conclusions that the sewage discharge that was found could have come from other sources, including a business along Route 422 that sits in Franklin Township, as well as from geese.

Robinson ceded that Golden L made repairs to its system without a permit, but asked Horan not to punish residents there by closing the park.

But Gallagher said that if Golden L cannot make the necessary improvements to end the overflows, then the mobile home park should be closed.

He said supervisors are not pleased with the idea of evicting Golden L's 30 residents.

"These people have a right to live in a clean, healthy and safe environment," Gallagher said.

The township's legal action against Bennett and the mobile home park began in December 2004 when supervisors fined Bennett $1,000 per week for not repairing a septic tank that became clogged and overflowed into toilets and the soil.

Since then, the park installed a sand mound septic system to serve five trailers with malfunctioning systems. But since the initial repair, legal troubles with the township regarding the disposal of sewage have continued.

Horan took the arguments under advisement and will likely rule on the appeal next month.