MAHANOY CITY - A stormwater drainage project in the Mahanoy Township village of Park Place is in jeopardy of losing funding due to the noncooperation of some residents involving income surveys.
The residents who have not submitted their income surveys to the township have until Friday to do so or the township will lose up to $70,000 in grant funding.
The project status was discussed during last week's meeting of the township supervisors through the report of Alfred Benesch & Co. project engineer Michael J. Peleschak, which was read by township Secretary Cheryl Backo.
"We continue to work with the township and the county for a successful completion of the CDBG income survey," Peleschak wrote in his report. "The income surveys have not met the 51 percent low- to moderate-income requirement. We must have all surveys by Oct. 26 or the project may be stopped by the county."
The proposed project involves replacing drainage culverts along Park Place Road, Route 1014, at two locations, along with pipes to cross the road to alleviate road flooding during heavy rains.
The Community Development Block Grant application has been submitted to the county but in order for the township to qualify, at least 51 percent of the residents must be considered to be low- or moderate-income.
Earlier this month, Benesch engineers met with Schuylkill County Grant Writer Gary Bender and Karen Parrish of Mullin and Lonergan Associates Inc., the county CDBG consultant, to discuss the grant application.
At a previous meeting, supervisors Chairwoman Sharon Chiao said that the grant is vital to the project since the township does not have the funds to do it on its own.
In Peleschak's report, he said Benesch has submitted a response to the comment letter from the state Department of Conservation and Natural Resources on the initial design package submittal for the Park Place Community Park project.
The township has been waiting for months for final approval from DCNR to place the recreation equipment in the park. The equipment has been purchased and is being stored by the township until the approval is received. The plan was to install the recreation equipment in the spring, but until the final approval is received, the equipment cannot be placed.
"We should have that up in May. The equipment has been sitting here since the end of April," Chiao said. "We can't put it up until they (DCNR) release it."
"I'm just as disappointed as anyone," Supervisor James Stevens said.
"We would have it up the day after the equipment came," Chiao said.