The Lowhill Township board of supervisors meeting Oct. 6 began with a hearing on Ordinance No. 2026-4, amendment to the township’s bulk storage regulations.

Attorney Rocco Beltrami of Norris, McLaughlin, P.A., said the hearing was required by the Pennsylvania municipalities planning code for the adoption of an amendment to a zoning ordinance.

“The purpose of this hearing is to receive public comment on the proposed ordinance which is Ordinance No. 2026-4, which amends the zoning ordinance to establish regulations for bulk storage containers, to amend requirements for connections to water and sewer systems, to correct typographic errors in the zoning ordinance, to amend provisions relating to nonconforming uses and structures, temporary zoning permits, electronic submissions, and one principle use per lot and to amend the definition of lot coverage,“ Beltrami said.

“Under the municipalities planning code, there is no requirement to have a stenographer present, and we do not have one present this evening,” he said before entering eight exhibits into the record on behalf of the board.

Those exhibits will be provided to or already have been provided to the township secretary for the township’s records, he said before mentioning each exhibit item and opening up the hearing to any of the public who wished to comment on the proposed ordinance.

After hearing no public comments, the hearing was closed and the exhibits that were offered were admitted into the record.

After further discussion, board vice chairman Mike Divers made a motion to adopt Ordinance No. 2026-4 and it was seconded by board member Jack Iannantuono. The motion was unanimously approved by all board members at the meeting.

Another item discussed at the meeting was the Act 537 plan.

Tim Miller with Keystone Consulting Engineers began the discussion.

“So, the township has 900 on-lot sewage system properties. There are 43 properties on direct access to the sewer down in the southwest corner of the township. There’s a hundred and some undeveloped lots in the township,” Miller said. “Now as part of the 537 plan, we had to field verify 20% of those on-lot systems to make sure that they’re functioning correctly. We had an inspector go out in the spring of this year and he viewed 180 of those properties. That was 20% of the 900 and he determined that there were no failures or malfunctions or any kind of problems identified out in the field based on the ground around the system.

According to Miller, the inspector was looking for soggy ground, grass that’s like unnaturally green and run off determination. Basically, they all passed.

“There were three properties that were identified as potential malfunctions which is really not as bad as it seems. That’s kind of the lightest Department of Environmental Protection classification underneath no malfunctions and those were lots that had privies,” Miller said. “I think there were two holding tanks and one privy that I think the SEO (sewage enforcement officer) just wanted to follow up on and just check them out and make sure that they’re allowed and that they’re functioning properly and they’re being taken care of. So it’s basically a very clean plan in that you had no malfunctions whatsoever.”

Miller said a question was asked about whether the plan was the current version or not. The current version of the plan was based around the sewage management program.

“I can go into that a little bit more detail if you want but basically the DEP even in their CRG response letter did say they highly recommend that we implement a sewage management program,” he said. “The township is on the hook for the short and long term operation of the systems. The long term operation systems generally [are] guaranteed through a sewage management plan. That’s one of the ways to assure that everything is kind of functioning well and everybody’s doing what they need to do to their systems and are keeping them up to date.”

He said that can be as simple as having the 900 properties follow DEP’s recommendation to clean the septic tanks out every three to five years.

“So, say every three years you have 900 lots divided by three which would be 300. So every year you would basically say 300 of those lots need to submit certification that they’ve had their systems pumped out and inspected by a sewage professional, and they basically bring you their receipt and say this was done and you have it on record that this is a permitted operating system and life goes on,” Miller said. “But that does incur some administrative burden on the township and that’s not lost on us. We’ll do whatever the discretion of the board is, but you do have correctly operating systems today.

“I guess how we write that is we keep up with the long term operation of the systems. That might be something that DEP comes back with - that we submit so to speak a no action alternative.”

He said the township can stay with its current system now. The lots are spread out. The ones that are undeveloped are spread out throughout the township so there’s really no need for any kind of a public sewer extension and no need for any kind of water extension as far as he could see. That’s KCE’s recommendation: stay status quo.

“We can go with the on lot systems for the remaining lots subject to no failures and we either do a sewage management plan or we do a no action plan which basically says we’re good to go and it would be up to DEP to enforce something,” Miller said. “I’ve never seen them force anything down your throat. It’s not a requirement, but it’s generally thought it would be a good management technique. But again, that’s entirely up to the township which way it wants to go.”

After further discussion, chairman Curtis Dietrich made a motion to adopt the Act 537 sewage facilities plan update reflecting no action plan and board members further direct ed the township manager to include in the township’s newsletter encouragement to residents to have their facilities pumped. The motion was unanimously approved by all board members at the meeting.

Dietrich then thanked Miller and his team at KCE for their work in regard to the Act 537 plan and said the board also appreciated the cooperation of the residents who participated in the survey and inspection of their properties.

Under new business, Dietrich announced Trick or Treat night will take place 6-8 p.m. Oct. 31 rain or shine.