WILLIAMSPORT – The Department of Environmental Protection has fined Jersey Shore Borough $3,000 for violating Act 537, the Pennsylvania Sewage Facilities Act, in December and January.
The borough failed to halt the construction of new apartment buildings along Howard Street after it was discovered that work had begun without an approved sewage planning module. Project developers must submit a completed sewage planning module that outlines proposed changes to a municipality’s official sewage facilities plan.
“With new land development projects, Act 537 requires a municipality to submit a sewage planning module to DEP for approval,” said DEP Regional Director Robert Yowell. “The borough needs to revise its official sewage plan to include the proposed development. Construction of any such development should not begin until DEP approves the planning module and the municipality issues a building permit.”
A DEP inspection in early December confirmed that new apartment buildings were being built on property owned by Frederick Welker. The project’s contractor, Troy Musser, had begun work without approval for the required sewage planning module from DEP or the borough.
DEP sent the borough a notice of violation the next day asking that all necessary measures be taken to halt the violations.
Subsequent inspections by DEP on Dec.14 and Jan. 3 determined that the apartment construction had continued.
In a letter dated Dec. 18, the borough notified Welker to immediately stop construction because he had not obtained a building permit.
An administratively complete planning module for the development was not submitted until Jan. 9, which DEP subsequently approved on Feb. 7.
“The borough was fined for failing to abate the violations, but it’s quite clear that Welker and his contractor ignored the law by not submitting a sewage planning module to the borough,” Yowell said. “Construction should not have started until the module was approved by both the borough and DEP and a building permit was issued. The borough might pursue a cause of action against Welker and his contractor, which could include recovering the cost of this fine.”