By JESSICA E. FUNK
Clarion News writer
The Clarion Borough Stormwater Authority held a public meeting July 17 to discuss the state of the stormwater system, work completed so far, future projects and funding.
Legalities
The meeting opened with a presentation by Isaac Wakefield from the law firm Salzmann Hughes. The firm is providing legal counsel to the authority, as it specializes in stormwater issues.
“The regulatory environment surrounding stormwater has become very strongly enforced. Municipalities in Pennsylvania have come to a point where, like the rest of the municipalities around the states, they have to deal with this in some way or maintain compliance with whatever entity is regulating, in this case the Department of Environmental Protection,” said Wakefield.
Wakefield said other municipalities across the United States generally look to their general fund to pay for all of their projects. That ultimately leads to an increase property taxes. Many of the larger entities, such as government owned properties are exempt from these taxes.
Residential property owners would have to make up the amount missing from the exempt properties.
The Clarion Borough Stormwater Authority is looking for a more evenhanded solution to pay for upcoming projects.
The proposed solution involves the creation of stormwater utilities. This means creating a dedicated stream of revenue to fund the management and operation of the stormwater system.
The authority hopes to accomplish this by implementing a fee, which is still under development.
An agreement must be created between the authority and the Clarion Borough Council that outlines how the two entities will work together.
“It is a process and does take some time, but I believe this particular authority is already well on their way to doing that successfully,” Wakefield said.
Assessments done
Jason Noto, chairman of the authority, went into detail of the formation of the authority and discussed initial research.
“We have an aging stormwater system in our borough that is failing us. We have had it in the ground for many years and we are coming to the time where it must be replaced. If we don’t replace it, it’s just going to collapse and disintegrate on us, and it’s not going to work,” said Noto.
One of the projects mentioned by Noto was the Center Place stormwater project. The road has many sinkholes due to the clay piping underneath the road cracking and water furthering the damage to the pipe and road.
The Center Place project alone is projected to cost around $1.9 million to fix the road and replace the piping, install a new grate and curb the area in which water flows to the grate.
Noto mentioned there was no dedicated funds for these types of projects.
He explained an authority can do things a borough cannot. An authority can acquire different sources of funding, different ways to pay for projects that municipalities cannot do.
Noto discussed what has been done by the authority so far. The authority contracted a fly-over of the borough to determine the impervious areas of properties.
Impervious surface area refers to area stormwater cannot flow into the ground. Such surfaces include roofs, driveways, parking lots and other like surfaces.
The authority was able to break down how much of the impervious area belongs to certain types of landowners. Thirty percent of the impervious area in the borough belongs to commercial properties. Government/exempt makes up 29 percent and residential is 37 percent. The other 4 percent is comprised of industrial and public utilities.
If the stormwater authority were to tax borough residents to collect the needed funds, a great deal of the funds would come from the residential properties, as many of the other properties are exempt from that sort of taxation.
Noto made it clear he finds taxation as a way to collect funds for these projects unfair to residential citizens.
“You guys (residents) aren’t the only people contributing to the stormwater system, other people are too. It seems to me that we need to find a fairer, equitable way that everyone gets to pay to help fix this issue,” Noto said.
Every type of entity in the borough would be required to pay the stormwater fee, regardless of their tax exempt status.
Projects to complete
Todd Colosimo, Clarion Borough/authority projects coordinator, discussed how the authority plans to spend the money collected.
Colosimo noted for the past few years, the borough has been keeping track of all complaints and problems regarding the stormwater system.
Colosimo showed a map outlining all of the projects needed to be completed. Some of the projects can be done by Clarion Borough public works, but many projects will be up for bid.
The authority and Colosimo has been working to set a budget for projects over the next five to six years.
Colosimo said the authority plans to look at an overall assessment of the system.
“We need to know what’s underground. We would like to know the depth, the material, where it’s running and where it’s coming from. We don’t have a complete picture. The system has been built, added to, improved, relocated and worked on for over a century,” Colosimo said.
The authority has an initial projection of about a $5.8 million investment over the next five to six years.
The map Colosimo was referring to are only for projects the authority knows about. It is likely the number of projects will increase as the authority conducts their assessments.
Colosimo mentioned right now, the borough isn’t doing projects in an orderly fashion and is almost playing catch-up. He said the borough is mostly responding to emergencies.
Colosimo also talked about the Center Place project. The project will start around South Street and will travel down towards Clarion Township.
That particular storm line is responsible for about a third of the borough’s water.
The current line has break-ins, deterioration and a variety of other issues.
Colosimo addressed the issue of working on the Trout Run Stream Restoration as it goes into Clarion Township.
Colosimo added the authority was working to acquire a PennVEST loan and grant to help pay for this project and others. It was announced July 18 the authority received a $684,000 loan with a 1 percent interest rate and a $1.2 million grant.
Program costs
Bruce Hulshizer, a civil and environmental engineer with Herbert, Rowland & Grubic, Inc., shared the project plans and how they will be funded.
The plan to tackle the storm water issues are as follows:
Year one: Center Place.
Year two: Sunset Drive, Second Avenue, Whitehill Place and Greenville Avenue.
Year three: East Wood Street; North Third and North Fifth avenues; and Toby Road at the boat launch.
Year four: Jefferson Place; Franklin Street; and Eighth Avenue at Church Road.
Year five: Grand Avenue, stream restoration of Trout Run.
Hulshizer went into more detail about the make-up of the borough.
Seventy-one percent of the borough’s total assessed value is tax exempt. 16 percent is residential and 12 percent commercial.
When thinking about the actual taxable property, 56 percent is residential and 42 percent commercial. These figures show the unappealing nature for borough residents if a property tax was used.
It is for this reason the authority is planning to base the fee off impervious area, which would have residents paying 37 percent of the fees rather than 56 percent if property taxes were used.
An actual rate has not been set for residential, commercial and government/exempt properties.
With 672 residential properties within the borough, the authority is planning to use the average impervious area of those properties to determine a flat fee.
A way to determine the fee paid by commercial and government/exempt properties is still being explored. Hulshizer mentioned the fee would likely be based on a per 1,000 feet of impervious area model.
The authority plans to offer credits, in which certain actions could be taken to reduce one’s storm water fee. The guidelines for this process are still being developed.
Once the authority’s budget is set, a stormwater fee can be set for all types of properties. The goal is to set the fees by the end of the year and issue the first fee during the first quarter of 2019. The authority expressed the possibility of issuing a quarterly fee, with a possible discount for those who pay their yearly amount at once.
For more information on the Clarion Borough Stormwater Authority visit www.clarionboro.org or search Clarion Borough Stormwater Authority on Facebook. Questions can also be directed to Todd Colosimo at tcolosi-mo@clarionboro.org or by calling (814) 226-7707, Ext 109.
The authority meets at 7 p.m. on the fourth Monday of the month in the Clarion Borough offices.