With the controversial wastewater treatment plant (WWTP) officially abandoned, the question is “What to do with the Lower Silver Lake Road parcel originally slated for the facility?”
Resident Todd McGonigal urged supervisors to act quickly, stressing both the market realities and the financial stakes: “There are already so many vacant office spaces available in Newtown… It’s only a 90-day window we have to make this happen.” He encouraged the township to work with the original developer to return the land and help ratepayers recoup losses from the failed project.
Supervisor John Mack, however, pushed in a different direction. Comparing the parcel to Silver Lake Park, he argued against any future construction: “If you want to know my opinion, we don’t want any kind of development there. I think the land should remain undeveloped with the provision that it never be developed.”
NOTE: At the 9 December 2025 Sewer Authority meeting, Mack was informed that the Authority sent the buy back offer to the original owners in the last week of November. The owners have 90 days from receipt of the offer to respond. The township now awaits responses from both the authority and the developer, leaving the fate of the land—and its role in shaping Newtown’s future—still unresolved.
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On 10 December 2025, I submitted a Right-to-Know request to the Sewer Authority asking for "The letter and/or letters that was sent to the original owners of the 17.5 acre parcel of land that the NBCJMA purchased via Eminent Domain for use as the site of the proposed WWTP - now abandoned. I was informed at the 9 December 2025 public meeting of the NBCJMA Board that this letter and/or letters was sent at the end of November 2025."
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