Keith Dmochowski: Muhlenberg commissioners vote against drilling a well at township park

May 20—The Muhlenberg Township commissioners on Wednesday voted down a proposal to install a $5 million well at Jim Dietrich Park that would've made about 8 acres of land largely unusable to parkgoers.

The vote at Wednesday's meeting among commissioners and the township water authority board members was 4-1, with commissioners Kevin Lerch, Derek Lupia, Steve Wolfinger and Michael Malinowski voting against the well, and John Imhoff voting in favor.

Commissioners brought up a legal covenant between the township and the site's previous owner, Faye Dietrich.

"This (well), I believe, violates the covenant," Malinowski said. "We made a promise to the Dietrich family not to put public improvements on that land."

Dietrich sold the land to the township in 1997 to form a park in memory of her son — Jim Dietrich, who died at 19 in an industrial accident — on the condition that the space would be for recreation or enjoying natural beauty and should remain open to the public.

Malinowski said Dietrich sold the land for about $693,000.

"If (Faye Dietrich) knew we were going to build a well there, she would've sold the park for a lot greater value than she gave it to us," Malinowski said.

A new well is needed to supplement the township's nine existing wells, which provide 5.2 million gallons of water daily to the township, water authority officials said.

The well would provide backup, officials said, in case the township's largest well goes offline, or a fire emergency drains the township's reserves.

It's extremely unlikely that Muhlenberg wells would go offline, but mechanical issues can cause outages, and changing environmental regulations can also take wells out of service, said authority board Chairman Scott Lehr.

Authority officials noted a well at Jim Dietrich could also save money by allowing the township to limit production of water from wells that are expensive to operate.

A Dietrich well would produce 1 million to 2 million gallons per day, authority officials said.

Drilling the well would mean about 7.56 acres of surrounding parkland could only be used for purposes linked to the production of water, according to state rules.

"No pavilions, no playgrounds, no walking trails, or any improvement that would directly impact the recharge of rainwater," said James Bobeck, township manager.

The affected land currently hosts a dog park that would've been moved to another area had the well been approved, supervisors said.

"I understand we need water. But to break a promise ... it's more important to me that we as a community live up to our obligations and promises," Malinowski said.

Imhoff interpreted the covenant differently.

He said adding a well to the property aligns with the Dietrich covenant, as the public use restrictions placed on well land would ensure the location retains its natural beauty.

"I went to school with Jim Dietrich. I believe Faye Dietrich wanted to preserve that land," Imhoff said.

The issue had previously come before the board in a 2017 vote, when Imhoff and two others voted against drilling a well at the park.

At that time, the Dietrich family said they didn't want a well in the park, according to Imhoff, which is why he voted "no" then.

No Dietrich family member spoke at the meeting Wednesday.

Imhoff said his vote Wednesday in favor of the well was in the interest of supplying the cheapest water possible to the township.

He said without the well, Muhlenberg may have to look elsewhere for potentially more expensive sources of water.

Wolfinger said that unless there was a way to drastically shrink the area that would be made publicly unusable by the well — which authority officials said was impossible, due to environmental requirements — he couldn't vote for it.

"If you're gonna take away 8 acres from Jim Dietrich Park, I have to side with (Malinowski) on this," Wolfinger said.

Several residents in attendance — including one authority board member — said that if the vote were to pass, they would contest the well in court.

"It doesn't matter if there's gold underneath the park. As honorable people with integrity, we must honor that agreement," said Otto Voit III, authority board secretary. "Do you really want to go on record tonight as violating the (Dietrich) covenant ... I guarantee as long as I'm alive I'll file a challenge."

Township Solicitor Michael Setley said it may be tough for a judge to rule in favor of the well if residents do issue a legal challenge based on the Dietrich covenant.

"If I was a judge and Mr. Voit comes into my courtroom with 50 people who love Dietrich Park, and says, 'they just took 8 acres of a park and now we can't do anything with it,' I'm gonna say 'you can't put the well there," Setley said.

Following the vote, Lehr said the authority will now explore other ways to increase the township's water supply.

He said the authority will investigate options including tapping the former Berks Products Corp. quarry, outsourcing with the Reading Area Water Authority, or drilling wells elsewhere.

"(The Dietrich well) was our best option for the next step in our water supply and we needed an answer from the township," Lehr said.