The Altoona Water Authority has settled with two parties that had challenged the authority’s attempt to take 125 acres of strip-mined land along Route 36 above the Horseshoe Curve by eminent domain, to add to the authority’s watershed acreage.

According to the terms of the settlement, the authority will pay the Angel Coal Trust $20,000, plus $4,000 in legal fees and Cecelia Haines $6,500, plus $4,500 in legal fees — for a total payout of $35,000, according to authority solicitor David Gaines, speaking at the authority’s most recent board meeting.

“This completes the puzzle of properties important to the watershed,” Gaines said. “It seems we’re at the finish line.”

The ownership of the ground was itself a puzzle, Gaines said.

The acquisition includes surface rights only — not mineral rights, Gaines said.

Board member Jesse Ickes asked why the authority didn’t pursue mineral rights.

“We don’t see it as an issue,” Gaines said.

The authority has obtained other watershed land and similarly didn’t pursue mineral rights, he said.

That includes a larger property in the area obtained in 2020, for which the authority didn’t obtain mineral rights — although the authority does have mineral rights on some property it owns, said general manager Mark Perry.

The newly acquired property is a quarter- to a half-mile to the left for a northbound motorist on Route 36 at the bottom of the dip between the Buckhorn and the Burger Hut at the intersection with Coupon-Gallitzin Road, Perry said.

Mirror Staff Writer William Kibler is at 814-949-7038.