The Morris County chronicle. [volume] (Morristown, N.J.) 1877-1915, 1907-07-16
THE DISPOSAL
PLANT AGAIN
Conference Between Commits
sionerS and electors Results
IN Harmonious Action.
PLANTS NOT OBJECTIONABLE

Another chapter in the controversy
oyer the location of the sewage dis
posal plant was made Friday evening
at conference between the Morris
town Sewerage Commissioners and the
pTotestants against the site known as
the Whitnall tract. Colonel Fuller
and John H. Capstick, of the State
Sewerage Commission, were present
and acted as arbiters. The matter
was gone over thoroughly and the
concensus of opinion was that it would
be more satisfactory to build the dis
posal works an the Hid farm, a mile
below the site selected by the local
commissions engineers. There are,
however, a number of difficulties to be
overcome. One point is the transfer
Of the properties to be used, as the
town has no ownership in the proposed
site except the agreement Of the own
ers to sell the land necessary for the
sewer work at the same ratio as the
whole tract cost. Another point is the
difficulty in getting the right OF way,
as some of the owners of land over
which the trunk sewer must pass have
announced that they will fight the
laying of the sewer over their proper
ties. The main point in the discussion
in the discussion is whether the local
commissioners have the power to con-
tract greater debt than that con-
templated in the plans presented to
and adopted by the Board of Alder
man, and also the question of con-
demning for right of way after the
plant has been maved from the loca-
tion agreed upon.
The legal aspects of the case were
referred to a committee consisting OF
former judges w. w. Cutler and ]. B.
Vreeland, Judge Mills, and H. @. Pit
ney, Jr., for an opinion. Colonel Full
.ler stated that the plans as presented
by the engineers in the employ of the
board were the finest and most COM
prehensive and practical of any ever
presented to the State board.
The decision to locate the disposal
plant at the Hid farm has aroused
another storm of opposition from resi-
dents of that neighborhood. There
are many small land owners near the
site, and these, people are making
threats of what they will do if the
plant is brought to their section. AL
ready from twelve to fifteen have filed
protests. The Hanover Township
Committee, it is understood, would
offer serious objections to its location
on the Hid farm, and the McEwan
Brothers Company, will contest the
location of the plant anywhere on, the
Whippany river, and will not at pres
ent consent to the running of pipes
under the Morris & Erie Railroad,
which they own. They say that at
about the point the sewer is to run
under their road they wish to depress
the tracks to get rid of the grade
crossing of Hanover avenue.
Speaking in regard to the objections
to the disposal beds, Col. Fuller said
that the objections were due to ignor-
ance Of the conditions. He cited as
an instance the town of Collingswood,
in. Camden county. A sewer plant
was installed in that place in 1901,
since which time the population of the
town has doubled. Although the con-
ditions of the disposal bed are Inferior
to that proposed for Morristown, the
plant is so unobjectionable that streets
have been laid out and residences cost
ing from four to eight thousand dol
lars have been built within six hum
dred feet Of it and the residents say
that if any order is noticed it is far
less Objectionable than that from the
usual outhouses in a town. The pict-
ure of the plant in the State Commis-
sioners' report show the houses in the
immediate vicinity Of the sewer bed
to be of the character Of those on
WetmOre avenue.