We are the Alliance of Greater Johnstown (PA) Home and Property Owners. All of our properties are served by the Greater Johnstown Sewage Treatment Plant at Dornick Point. We have joined together in order to seek relief from unfair mandates for pressure testing and unreasonable upgrades to private properties. Below are just a few of the many Johnstown area homes that have been impacted by this arbitrary and irrational mandate.
Our purpose is to obtain relief from the payment of exorbitant fees to pressure test sewer laterals, demolish private basements or slabs, and replace perfectly satisfactory sanitary sewer pipes.
Our region’s Wastewater Treatment Plant at Dornick Point is an aging facility that over 12 years ago was ordered to stop its frequent and illegal overflows of untreated sewage into the Conemaugh River. We understand the problem is not just with the treatment plant, but with the entire system of underground pipes that convey sewage to Dornick Point.
We agree that it is absolutely necessary to fix this problem as quickly as possible. However, many local property owners have been forced to pay thousands of dollars for illogical and unnecessary sewer line “upgrades,” which have included unreasonable pressure testing and demolition of their property foundations and/or slabs, and replacement of perfectly serviceable lines. Penalties and fines have been levied against property owners who do not comply.
We contend that there are other, more effective solutions, widely recognized by the industry, that should be carried out at public rather than private expense. We believe our constitution prohibits government and agency officials from compelling private property owners to bear such unreasonable expenses. Many homeowners in our area simply cannot afford the mandated sewer “repairs” and have abandoned their properties.
We believe this is unjust, and we have joined together in a formal Alliance for the purpose of launching a lawsuit against the various municipalities and entities involved in these unreasonable and arbitrary sewer line mandates. We hope to end these unlawful policies and receive relief for expenses already paid. Other concerned property owners are invited to join our Alliance.
Current members of the Alliance have selected Tom McAneny to serve as our volunteer leader. Click below to review a letter from Tom that gives more detail on this effort.
Please contact us for info on joining our Alliance
and being part of our legal efforts.
and being part of our legal efforts.
Alliance of Greater Johnstown Home and Property Owners
Telephone:
814.539.8937
(9 AM to 1 PM Weekdays)
Office and Mailing Address:
943 PineGrove Lane Suite A
Johnstown, PA 15905
You may also submit questions or get in touch through the Contact Form on this website.
Below are answers to some Frequently Asked Questions about this grass roots effort.
Every municipality and authority that transports its sewage to the Dornick Point Sewage Treatment Plant, that is, every municipality in or around Johnstown, PA.
Expenses such as these could be eligible for recovery:
- cost of testing within your foundation,
- cost to replace or repair sewer pipes within your foundation,
- damage to your basement caused by that testing or replacement,
- cost of repair, replacement or refurbishing any wall, floor, appliance, carpet or item damaged by later water seepage or sewer backup,
- emotional distress or health problem directly related to the repair or replacement of your sewer pipes or the later seepage of groundwater or sewer backup into your basement,
- purchase, installation and operation of sump pumps;
- the testing or repair of your lateral from the foundation wall to the public sewer (IF PRESSURE TESTING ALONE WAS MANDATED FOR THAT OUTSIDE LATERAL), then the cost for the repair and replacement of the outside lateral and the renovation of the ground above it.
- If home owner abandoned the house rather than test and repair it, damage may be both the value of the building when it was abandoned as well as any emotional distress, moving expenses and cost of replacement housing arising out of that abandonment.
No, but there is almost no chance that you will ever recover damages if too few people buy shares and no lawsuit is begun. We need enough people to buy shares in order to bring suit.
If no lawsuit is filed during 2022, then the funds remaining with the Alliance will be refunded to the shareholders on a pro rata basis after the necessary expenses of the Alliance have been paid.
Participation in the Alliance gives you the opportunity to get your money back. Some municipalities right now require you to test every 15 years. Unless they are stopped, every family in every municipality could be forced to do this all over again every 15 years or even less. This government overreach must be stopped and our private property protected.
This project has been going on for over 11 years and no class action has been filed by anyone. If the Alliance is not funded now, there is little chance that anything will change.
Below we offer links to articles and Letters to the Editor published in Johnstown’s local newspaper, The Tribune Democrat. We hope these will provide understanding and perspective on the sewer problems in our community.
“You have to know the past to understand the present.”
– Carl Sagan (1980)