UFRSD looks to tie Breza site into Allentown facility
BY JENNIFER KOHLHEPP Staff Writer

ALLENTOWN - A partnership with the borough could reduce some of the costs of the new middle school project, according to the Upper Freehold Regional Board of Education.

Although it voted Sept. 19 to have a 40,000-gallon-per-day wastewater facility designed for the new middle school site, the Upper Freehold Regional Board of Education is also considering the possibility of hooking the site into Allentown's existing wastewater treatment facility.

In making his recommendation to the board for developing a 40,000-gallon-per-day facility instead of a 30,000-gallon-per-day facility, Superintendent of Schools Dick Fitzpatrick said that a 40,000-gallon-per-day wastewater facility would have the capacity to serve the new middle school, a future expansion of that school and another future school on the 104 acres along Breza Road.

As designed, the middle school will house 920 students but with an addition has the potential to ultimately house 1,200 students. Fitzpatrick said that the additional acreage at the site could potentially house another school for 666 students, which is the size of an elementary or primary school.

The board voted 6-2, with members Chris Shaw and Lisa Herzer dissenting, to allow Hillsborough-based American Water, which is the company that will build and operate the facility, to proceed with a design for a 40,000- gallon-per-day plant.

The board later voted unanimously to allow board President Joseph Stampe to attend the Sept. 27 Upper Freehold Township Committee meeting to urge the committee to write a letter to Monmouth County asking to be part of the county's wastewater plan.

"We can also continue down a second path at no risk or cost to the district," Stampe said.

Stampe said that Monmouth County is currently amending its wastewater management plan and that there is a 45-day window in which the plan could be amended to state that the school district's site would tap into the Allentown's existing wastewater treatment facility.

Once the plan is amended to state as such, Stampe said the board would have until between Dec. 15 and Jan. 1 to study the option and commit or not commit to it.

"We would ask the township to ask the county to endorse the idea put forth by the borough," Stampe said. "It would include wording that we are being responsible representatives of taxpayers."

Stampe said the final decision would have to be cost-efficient to the taxpayers and able to maintain the timeline for the school opening.

Although the board did not publicly state any estimated cost comparisons, Fitzpatrick said, "It would be a tremendous advantage if we could tie into Allentown."

He said school district officials are currently discussing the possibility of tying into Allentown's plant with Allentown officials. At this point, Fitzpatrick said, some are optimistic about the tie-in while others remain pessimistic regarding the issue.

"It depends on who you talk to," he said. "Some think it's an option, and others say it's not an option at all. There are some significant issues, but they are issues that could be overcome."

Fitzpatrick said the Allentown facility discharges to surface and the state would not consider modifications to the plant that would also discharge to surface. He said modifications to the plant would have to discharge to ground. The board did not discuss whether the school district or Allentown would be responsible for making such modifications.

Despite having the alternative wastewater treatment option, Fitzpatrick said the board also had to move ahead with allowing for the design of the 40,000-gallon-per-day plant.

Fitzpatrick said, "We need - if we are going to build on time - to continue with the design of a wastewater treatment plant. If we do not, we jeopardize opening in September 2010."

Fitzpatrick said that a board member had asked him to find out if the money allotted for the project through the referendum could be used toward the cost of building a 40,000-gallon per-day facility.

"In the opinion of the attorney and all of our thinking, it is no different than other modifications," Fitzpatrick said. "We are simply trying to anticipate using the facility in the future.

"Because of the issues existing with wastewater and wastewater management," he continued, "this could be a huge factor on how the site is used in the future. It is consistent with the referendum and the use of the land."

Stampe said that if the board went with the 30,000-gallon-per-day facility, it would have cost $249,000 under what the referendum budgeted for the facility. The costs for the 40,000-gallon-per-day facility, an estimated $2.5 million, eat into the school district's contingency for land costs. The board has $500,000 left over from its land costs. The 40,000-gallon-per-day facility would use $188,000 of those funds. The school district also has a $1.9 million contingency on the estimated construction costs for the project.

Wary about dipping into any of the approximately $2.5 million in contingencies for the project, Herzer said that until the construction costs go out to bid, the school district won't know how much of its contingency money it will need.

Adding the extra capacity would cost "a heck of a lot more" in five to 10 years, according to Stampe, as American Water representatives said that an added 10,000-gallon-per-day capacity could cost as much as $1.5 million in the future.

In Herzer's estimation, the new middle school will require a wastewater facility with a 7,500-gallon-per-day capacity, and an addition to that school and/or a new school would still fit a facility with a 30,000-gallon-per-day capacity.

Fitzpatrick said that a 40,000-gallon-perday facility would cover future additions to the site with more labs, showers and kitchens. He also said the capacities are based on the number of pupils and that a larger facility would therefore ensure that the school district has enough capacity to handle faculty and staff members as well.

Herzer said, "We are still a referendum away from adding on to the middle school or adding a school for 500. We may be two referendums away from needing a 40,000-gallon per-day plant."

Herzer continued, "How far down the line are we looking? If we decide at that point that we need a high school, then we're looking 20 years down the road that we will need [a 40,000-gallon-per-day plant]."

Business Administrator Viola Yosifon said the school district recently received two quotes on a shared demographic study with Millstone Township but that it is weeks away from starting one.

If built, the new wastewater facility and its 40,000-square-foot disposal bed would be located in the southeast corner of the site near Doctors Creek, where the soil is higher and water can flow more freely as it gets closer to the streambed, according to American Water representatives who appeared before the board in August.

The company's representatives told the board that the stream is considered a Category 2 stream and does not produce trout. They also said the wastewater treatment facility would not harm the stream.