Borough Plan: Sell A Mountain, Help A Water System

NEW HOLLAND PA – The borough of New Holland Water Authority has a mountain to sell you, according to The Pennsylvania Independent online news service.

Reporter Melissa Daniels, in The Independent’s Thursday (Sept. 5, 2013) edition, wrote that borough officials need money to revamp their water infrastructure. So they’ve gotten creative, and plan to sell five tracts of lush woodlands and a small reservoir totaling more than 500 acres of land in East Earl Township, to which the authority has held rights for about 75 years.

A small reservoir there once served as the authority’s main water supply, but it switched to another source three years ago.

A public auction is scheduled for Sept. 28. The potential sale has generated its share of controversy among suspicious residents in the tidy rural region near Lancaster PA.

The authority faces at least $3 million in immediate infrastructure needs, Borough Manager Dick Fulcher said. Rather than raise rates three-fold, the borough decided to explore selling assets.

Read Daniels’ story, titled “Mountain for sale: Water authority auctioning land to avoid rate increase” and published Thursday by The Independent, here.

Photo from the Pennsylvania Independent