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Parkview saddling Antis Twp.

The Antis Township supervisors are working to finalize how to pay for replacement of the 25-year-old township-owned stormwater collection system that serves Parkview Estates, a development off old Route 220 near the Northern Blair Recreation Center.

But besides trying to deal with the Parkview replacement, the supervisors need to be looking closely at stormwater problems affecting numerous other parts of the municipality, a situation alluded to by some township residents.

Based on an article in the Aug. 11 Mirror, Parkview only is the tip of the proverbial iceberg regarding Antis’ stormwater problems.

As a result, whatever the supervisors decide about Parkview funding ought to be consistent with other stormwater-system-repair financing, going forward.

The supervisors shouldn’t institute a special assessment for approximately 70 Parkview households, then spread the cost of other necessary work elsewhere over the whole township tax base.

It is important to note that Parkview’s current stormwater problems should not now be a township issue. If township leaders a quarter-century ago had exercised proper oversight and good judgment — and had sought the right expert advice and guidance — Parkview’s system likely would still be operating effectively, not be an eroding skeleton of what it should be.

And looking back to about 1994, from Parkview’s standpoint, that was not a primitive time in terms of planning and protecting a municipality’s best interests.

Yet township officials not only accepted a system that wasn’t built for long-term service, but accepted the Parkview system as township property allegedly without first subjecting it to an inspection — an inspection that no doubt would have raised “red flags.”

Rather than being built to be durable and to have a long life, the Parkview system was built with galvanized pipe incapable of longtime service.

As described in the Aug. 11 Mirror article, the undersides of at least half of the sections of Parkview’s galvanized pipe have at least partly “disappeared” due to corrosion. That reportedly has led to other problems such as sinkholes, road damage and clogging of some of the remaining pipe sections.

Reportedly, for years, the township has been using a Band-Aid approach to try to address the Parkview system’s deterioration, but that hasn’t kept up with needed work, and now the township is faced with action or the system’s eventual, total demise.

The Aug. 11 Mirror article reported the township supervisors’ directive to advertise for bids to replace the Parkview system, a project estimated to cost about $225,000.

But since the supervisors had not yet decided how the township would pay for the project, when the authorization to seek bids was given, the supervisors were left with deciding that question leading up to the time when awarding of a contract would be under consideration.

The supervisors’ regular meetings are held on the first Thursday of each month, so perhaps this week there will be some indication — or a firm decision — on how the municipality will proceed on financing.

Will there be an assessment targeted only at Parkview households, or one where all township households will have to pay?

The Antis supervisors and other key officials of the township function as an effective governmental body. It’s too bad they are faced with a decision that really should not be theirs.

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