Damascus supervisors approve zoning change

The River Reporter
Thursday, December 4, 1985, pp. 3.

By TOM RUE

DAMASCUS - At its November 18th meeting, the Damascus Township supervisors approved a resolution amending the township's zoning ordinance to allow Martha J. Vetter of West Long Branch, NJ to place a sewage holding-tank on her Damascus property. The Pennsylvania Department of Environmental Resources (DER) has not given final approval to Ms. Vetter's plan. Township secretary Charles Rutledge said that it was his understanding that any discharge from the tank would be "99% pure" and free of contaminants.

According to Lester F. Burlein of Honesdale, engineer for Ms. Vetter's proposed sewage treatment system, "once the effluent from the sewage tank is thoroughly treated and ready to be dumped on the ground, you could drink it if you wanted to." Burlein attributes the state's holdup of approval for Vetter's package plant to federal involvement and new regulations along the river corridor.

The excavation and replacement of a washed out culvert under Township Road 670 in Abramsville on an unnamed tributary leading to Hollister Creek was also discussed. The culvert will be replaced with one "three or four times the size" of the existing one, according to Rutledge, in order to accommodate greater flow and to prevent the pipe from backing up again with sand, gravel, or other debris. The township will pay for the preventive measures such as this; federal disaster monies are allocated for cleanup only. The Federal Emergency Management Agency is contributing $1250 in disaster relief funds for the project, Rutledge noted.

In other business, the supervisors: explained that a beaver dam is the cause of flooding near Stanton's corners and that Pennsylvania Department of Transportation and the Game Commission are the responsible agencies; heard Rolf Beck read a letter from Herb Wolff of the Upper Delaware Citizen's Alliance, which responded to a recent fact sheet distributed by the Conference of Upper Delaware Townships; reported a complaint concerning a large pile of mattresses, broken furniture and mixed refuse in Milanville and noted that the budget for 1986 will be posted at the Damascus Township Building after January 1st.

Area residents are invited to attend these meetings of the township supervisors, but very few do. According to Rutledge, when last year's annual budget was posted at the township offices, "not more than two people came to look at it."

According to William Matz, Esq. the letter read by Rolf Beck at the November 18th meeting of the Damascus Township Board of Supervisors was written by Anthony N. D'Elia, executive director of the Adirondack Park Local Government Review Board, not Herb Wolff of the Upper Delaware Citizen's Alliance, as reported in our November 21st issue.