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HARVEYS LAKE — Against the advice of the borough engineer, council members Tuesday agreed to give a stormwater management contract to the Wyoming Valley Sanitary Authority.
A U.S. Environmental Protection Agency stormwater mandate requires all municipalities to reduce the amount of sediment deposited into the Susquehanna River and other waterways that feed into the Chesapeake Bay. The state Department of Environmental Protection requires towns that drain water into the Susquehanna to submit stormwater permit plans showing how they will reduce sediment.
To reach this goal, the sanitary authority and the Dallas Area Municipal Authority began working on individual stormwater management plans to offer contracted services to area municipalities.
“We have heard presentations from both (WVSA and DAMA),” councilman Chad Flack said. “My personal opinion — I like WVSA because they have more boroughs going along to spread the cost over.”
However, Harveys Lake is already ahead of schedule in meeting the new regulations, councilwoman Michell’e Boice said. She said stormwater and sewer flows are already separate, which was a requirement, and there are numerous stormwater basins installed around town by Princeton Hydro, an environmental engineering firm.
“Harveys Lake Borough is good until January 2020,” Boice said. “We do not have to make a decision on this right now.”
“Not only that, but our borough engineer advises us not to do anything until six months before our deadline of 2020,” councilman Thomas Kehler said.
Nearly 30 residents attended the meeting but held back from voicing their opposition because they were under the impression council was not going to vote on the stormwater issue.
Council Vice President Daniel F. Blaine read a letter from WVSA stating the new regulations are an “unfunded mandate” to ensure sediment entering the Susquehanna is reduced by 10 percent, phosphorus by 5 percent and nitrogen by 3 percent over the next five years. The program would carry a fee that could range from $3 to $4.50 per home, per month, Blaine said.
Council President Clarence Hogan’s motion to approve WVSA as the borough’s MS4 (Municipal Separate Storm Sewer System) program manager was met with audience shock and opposition.
A 3-3 vote was broken by Mayor Carole Samson and the motion passed. Blaine, Hogan and Flack supported the idea. Boice, Kehler and councilman Ed Kelly voted against it.
“It (stormwater management) was paid for before — now we have to pay a tax,” resident Brad Nelsson said after the meeting.