Authority board members, at their monthly meeting on Thursday, unanimously rejected the fishing proposal, saying it would be too costly and pose a security risk.
The authority said that if fishing were to be allowed, a full-time police officer would have to be hired to patrol the reservoir property, parking lots and handicapped-accessible restrooms would need to be constructed, garbage removal would be required and the purchase of a motorized boat would be required to handle emergencies on the water, according to authority manager Chris Kerr.
Those changes, as well as some other slight modifications, were estimated to cost as much as $150,000 a year.
Kerr said the fish commission refused to commit to make annual payments for those items.
"We would have considered (allowing fishing) if it didn't cost our ratepayers. We were not going to have our ratepayers subsidize recreation," Kerr said.
Area sportsmen lobbied municipal authority members last year and twice asked county commissioners to intervene and support the fishing plan. A petition with more than 3,300 signatures of people who supported the plan was presented to authority board members and county commissioners last year.
The plan pushed by the sportsmen called for only a segment of the reservoir, from south of Route 286 to Trees Mills in Salem, to be open to anglers.
"I'm disappointed. I was hoping we could come to some agreement," said Ron Evancho, a fisherman and a Westmoreland County-based waterways conservation officer for the fish commission.
"This is obviously something the people supported and it's a matter of opinion as to the necessity of the things (the authority) says we need. In my opinion they're not necessary," Evancho said.