My name is Barbara Glassman. I started a website,
SavePlumsteadWater.org, to help keep the public informed about the most pressing groundwater issue in Plumstead today—the
lawsuit filed by the Bucks County Water & Sewer Authority that would expand their sewer lines in the township.
A crucial part of that issue is the role of the water
study. Your Environmental Advisory Council recommends that the board wait for the results of that study before any settlement
of the suit. I'm no expert, but after listening to the people with the most experience and knowledge of these issues, it seems
pretty clear that the consensus is there's no need to rush to settlement before the water study is concluded. They say it
is normal for this kind of litigation to take a long time. They dispute the argument that we'd be getting a good deal with
the proposed settlement—that it would firmly cap the number of hookups—because developers can and will always
come back and challenge that number. Leaving the water study out of the settlement means giving up one of your strongest arguments
for holding down the number of hookups. Leaving out the water study would also rob future boards of a powerful tool for fighting
challenges from developers in court. Ordering a water study and then saying it should not affect the settlement defies common
sense.
And I hope I'm not the only person who is naive enough
to be outraged that the Bucks County Water & Sewer Authority—an agency that was created to serve the citizens—has
the nerve to sue us and try to tell us how to run our township! Shouldn't we be complaining loudly to the county commissioners,
who appoint the members of their board?
But back to SavePlumsteadWater.org. I'm building
an email list of people who are interested in this issue, most of whom I do not know. From the start, it's been my stated
intention that the group be nonpartisan. We currently have no funds—I've started looking into becoming a nonprofit 501(c)(3).
I called to reserve this room to hold a first meeting of the people on the email list, and Dave said I would need the board's
approval, so I'm here to ask for that.
