Cranberry ends plans with Breakneck authority, citing sale concerns
CRANBERRY TWP — A planned inter-municipal connection between the Breakneck Creek Regional Authority and the township’s sewer system that would have resulted in the taking of land through eminent domain is now off the table.
At a meeting Thursday night, the Cranberry Township supervisors unanimously voted to terminate two inter-municipal sewer agreements with the neighboring Breakneck authority. The agreements had been created in 2019 and 2020 respectively in order to construct a gravity flow connection between Cranberry and Breakneck’s systems.
The connection would have presented an option to eliminate an old lift station located at Franklin Acres, which had “outlived its life expectancy,” according to township manager Dan Santoro. Now, the township plans to move forward with upgrading the station itself instead of bypassing it.
At the meeting, Santoro cited the ongoing evaluation of the Breakneck Creek Regional Authority by Pennsylvania American Water Company as one reason to end the project.
“There are a number of things that are going on with regard to the Breakneck Creek Regional Authority system,” Santoro said. “Some of that is they are looking at a private sale, and that is certainly within their control and their determination. But looking at that as well as rising costs or changes in cost, we are going to make a recommendation that we separate from this agreement, based on cost factors, but also based on the fact that we want to be in control of our own future here.”
“I agree that there is much risk involved if we continue this agreement, not knowing what is going on,” township supervisor John Skorupan said.
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