The Bradford Township Supervisors approved a resolution during a
special meeting Tuesday night which gave Universal Well Services
Inc. the OK to apply for a sewage facilities planning module permit
with the state Department of Environmental Protection.

The resolution was actually recommended to the supervisors by
the Bradford Township Planning Commission, which met for more than
an hour just prior to the supervisors’ meeting.

During the planning commission meeting, Universal’s manager of
corporate development, Michael Kloecker, presented a plan to the
commission, detailing where buildings, parking lots and other
various facilities or structures would be located as proposed for
the company’s relocation to the corner of Rutherford Run and High
Street.

Universal Well Services Inc. is currently located on Olean Road
in Foster Township.

The facilities at the new location will include 30,000 square
feet of building space, with 2/3 of the space set aside for the
shop and 1/3 for the office. An employee parking lot would be
located on the northeast corner of the property, Kloecker said.

There will be a storage unit for liquid nitrogen and one for fly
ash, he said, and a silo for sand. A wash bay and chemical/acid
facility – a double-walled tank, he explained – are also part of
the plan.

Traffic through the property will run in a clockwise pattern,
Kloecker added.

Universal Well Services Inc. is a service company to oil and gas
drilling companies in the area, he said. He explained the company
has currently leased property near Bissett’s and has stopped using
its silo in Foster Township.

“Because of the situation on Olean Road,” Kloecker said, “we’ve
tried to move as much of the equipment downtown as we can so it’s
quieter for the neighbors.”

This prompted planning commission chairman Jim Rodebaugh to ask
Kloecker about the problems the company has experienced at its
current location.

Kloecker said that the two major complaints about Universal in
Foster Township were the noise and the dust and dirt from the
equipment. He explained that while the company would be just as
noisy as it is Foster Township, in Bradford Township it will be
located on an M3 zone for commercial or industrial use, as opposed
to a R4 zone where it is now – in a residential area. There should
not be any residents near the property on Rutherford Run to be
bothered by the noise, he said.

The dust will be better managed at the new location thanks to
the incorporation of new technology being installed at all
Universal locations, Kloecker added.

“At the other locations where this system has been installed,”
he said, “the problem (with the dust) does not exist.”

One member of the planning commission asked Kloecker how many
employees Universal currently has, to which he replied,

“About 70, but we’re expecting about 100 by the end of next
year.”

There was some discussion about issues that may have to be
addressed in the future – fence construction, locations of the
buildings relative to property lines, proper gravel/stone to
eliminate the mud and dust, the location of the entrance into the
lot, the height of the silo, the number of EDUs (equivalency
dwelling units or hook-ups) and the company’s record of accident
incidents – among others.

The commission members were reminded, however, that Tuesday
night’s meeting was only to consider the sewer module, and that
there was still time to hammer out the rest of the details.

As such, the planning commission unanimously approved to accept
Universal’s application for the module, and then unanimously
approved a recommendation to the supervisors on the matter.

The supervisors met for less 10 minutes after the planning
commission adjourned, taking action only on the approval of the
resolution for Universal’s application to the DEP.

Supervisors Steve Mascho and Don Cummins both voted in favor of
the measure; supervisors chairman Tom Vickery abstained from
voting.

Although Vickery did not publicly give a reason for abstaining
from the vote, it is known that he did sell Universal the nine-acre
parcel at the corner of Rutherford Run and High Street, where the
company plans to eventually set up shop.