Upper Saucon Board of Supervisors Approves Brinley Court Project

Ending a legal battle that began in 2009, the Upper Saucon Board of Supervisors voted unanimously Feb. 21 to approve a conditional land use application that will allow Harold and Anne Dieterly to begin construction of Brinley Court, a single-family townhouse complex with 205 units.

The primary grounds for the original denial were that the property, which is between 7535 and 7611 S. Main St., did not meet municipal sewer regulations. "Conditions have now been met," township solicitor Thomas Dinkelacker said.

The area previously had only a few wells that “did not appear to be sufficient for production purposes,” according to Dinkelacker, but no permanent sewage system. A permanent system could not be put into place because it is downstream. As such, when heavy rains occur in Upper Saucon and Coopersburg, water flow into the area would exceed the holding capacity of a sewage system. An interim solution is currently in place that will provide municipal sewage service to the proposed townhouses.

The solution is an off-line flow equalizer that detects when water flow is becoming too high and diverts sewage into a holding tank until downstream conditions improve. The off-line flow equalizer is scheduled to be constructed along the edge of Locust Valley Golf Course. The tank will be used until Coopersburg enacts sewage construction that will permanently prevent high flow sewage from building up in the Upper Saucon area. “Upper Saucon will pay for the off-line equalizer as required by law,” Dinkelacker said.

In response to a question of how long the interim sewage system would be in place, board members could not give a definitive response from Coopersburg. Board member Jack DeMatos said, “Coopersburg said they would fix the problem in five years eight years ago.”

The board adjourned twice for executive sessions to discuss what vice chairman Stephen Wagner called "sensitive legal issues.” After each session, the board moved to vote without discussion and unanimously approved both the stipulation of settlement and the application for conditional land use with the Dieterlys.