After more than two years of squabbling over countless sewage-management proposals, state and local environmental officials have conditionally agreed on a plan that will allow Centre Region development to continue at a manageable rate.

The state Department of Environmental Resources on Monday conditionally approved the Centre Region's latest version of the state-mandated sewage facilities plan, Act 537, and lifted some bans that have halted local development, said Robert Crum, regional planner for the Centre Region Planning Commission.

While restrictions on issuing on-lot septic system permits and subdivision plans have been lifted, bans on new connections to the sewer system and issuance of planning modules will remain until further notice from the DER.

The DER had previously refused the plan because it included a Phase II expansion of the University Area Joint Authority treatment plant, Crum said. DER officials at the time said the expansion, which would have the plant receiving 7 million or 8 million gallons per day, could have an adverse impact on Spring Creek, where the waste is disposed.

Phase I of the plan, which DER approved, had the UAJA plant handling about 6 million gallons per day.

Crum said the plan was changed to allow for a two-year study of the long-term waste management goals. In spring 1992, the Centre Region Council of Governments will have to decide which method they plan to pursue. Its plan will be forwarded to DER for approval.

"Between now and 1992 we're going to study the long-term waste water management programs on Spring Creek and Buffalo Creek," Crum said.

In order to complete the long-term waste management study, the planning commission must meet several deadlines or face development bans from the DER.

After the department compiles a list of required data, the commission will have a year to complete the study and another year to decide which management plan to pursue.

"The time frames outlined in the plan are commitments," Crum said, adding, "We're going to have to move in a timely manner in order to meet those deadlines."

Crum said the DER also rejected the original Act 537 because it claimed the region's on-lot septic system management program for problem areas outlined by the the region planning commission were insufficient. Also, those districts need to be more clearly defined.

"If you're going to establish a sewage district, you're going to have to know which areas are in that district," said DER Sanitarian Sewage Specialist Gary Metzger at a special meeting between COG and the DER last October.

The revised plan will require all septic systems in the problem areas to be pumped out every three years. However, homeowners will have the option of paying for an inspection if they think their system does not need to be pumped. Each municipality is responsible for implementing the program.

"I think from our perspective as long range planners, we're happy that we can get on with the implementation of the plan," Crum said.

The waste management plan affects the State College Borough in the College, Ferguson, Benner, Patton, Halfmoon and Harris townships.