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AWA eyes grant for watershed

Authority to apply for funds to buy land above Horseshoe Curve

The Altoona Water Auth­ority on Thursday voted to apply for a $960,000 grant to buy watershed ground above the Horseshoe Curve, where the authority could install treatment systems to clean up acid mine drainage that now forces it to bypass Kittanning Run around the reservoirs at the Curve.

The “C2P2” grant from the Department of Conser­vation and Natural Re­sources would pay for half the $1.8-million purchase price for the 2,459-acre tract from Cooney Bros. Coal Co., and also for half the ancillary costs of the deal, according to grant consultant Dick Sutter.

It’s hard to say how likely the authority is to receive the grant until it becomes clear what other applications its request will be competing against, Sutter said.

DCNR awards the acquisition grants in the fall, Sutter said.

The purchase could be “under contract” in early 2020, Sutter said.

The proposed sale agreement that the authority has with Cooney is contingent on the authority receiving the grant, according to Gen­eral Manager Mark Perry.

The proposed sale agreement will be presented to the authority board for approval in April, solicitor David Gaines said.

If the authority learns that it won’t get the grant, it would be faced with another decision — whether or not to proceed with the purchase, Perry said.

The authority will pay its share of the costs from reserves or perhaps through the capital budget — and might split the cost between its water and sewer divisions, said controller Gina DeRubeis.

Sutter also plans to apply to other grant programs, including one dedicated to remediation of acid mine drainage, to help reduce the authority’s costs.

Cooney Bros. has indicated that it will be patient as the effort to obtain the funding plays out, according to Perry.

An appraisal required by the DCNR grant program set the value of the ground at $1.7 million, slightly less than the agreed-upon purchase price.

The authority negotiated the price to its current $750 an acre from a $1,050 an acre starting point, Perry said.

Mirror Staff Writer William Kibler is at 949-7038.

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