BERLIN– As long-promised stormwater improvements come closer to fruition, town officials are promising not to leave out residents in high-risk areas where they are losing property to flooding and erosion.
Several homes on Flower Street, specifically the area near Showell Street, have a gaping ditch running through their backyards. During a series of meetings last year, property owners complained to the town that they are literally losing ground.
“During those meetings a concern was expressed that the ditch that runs parallel to Showell Street (on Flower Street) – that ditchbank is becoming unstable,” said District 4 Councilmember, Dean Burrell.
Darl Kolar, and engineer from EA Engineering, Science and Technology, said a series of planned stormwater improvements would begin on Flower Street.
“We’re starting there … due to the importance of the area and the impact on those residents,” he said. “Our design approach is to relieve that flooding through the increase of the culvert system on Flower Street, and we’ve done some downstream work too.”
Kolar said Berlin has begun flagging areas with significant erosion, and would use a maintenance approach, beginning this week, to curb the problem.
“We’ll do that so that they can be immediately addressed, whether they can put some stone down to shore that up, or, ideally, it would be part of the construction of the improvements on Flower Street,” Kolar said. “And that’s not a reactive approach. In the fall and in the spring they have maintenance events to look at these. Part of the stormwater utility provides the town these capabilities to get in there and do more maintenance of things that have been neglected over many, many years.”
Flower Street residents, Kolar said, were the “complete opposite of being ignored.”
“These residents are the key component of the initiative starting where it is on Flower Street,” he said. “We’re definitely taking those guys into consideration.”
Burrell said he recently reminded Kolar of his commitment to Flower Street.
“He said that he would adjust the plan and give us an update at the next council meeting,” said Burrell. “(Stormwater) is a problem that has been going on for a long time. We feel that the citizens of Berlin have a right to not have their home and their property flooded out. This is why we’re taking a look at that system and why we created this stormwater utility – to address these problems.”
“It’s just the right thing to do,” Burrell continued. “When we were holding these meetings we got tremendous support from the public, and rightfully so.”
The town received nearly $2 million in grants for new stormwater improvements this year from the Federal Emergency Management Agency, the Department of Natural Resources and the Maryland Department of Housing and Community Development’s Community Development Block Grant program. The grants expire in 2016, meaning construction would likely begin soon.
The three phases of upgrades include Flower Street, Williams Street and Cedar, Franklin, Maple, Grice and Nelson streets.
“(Those three phases) will be a major dent in the flooding all throughout town,” Kolar said. “It affects Hudson Branch, but there are other waterways with Bottle Branch, which goes passed the West Street area, and then you have Kitts Branch on the other side of town. We made one improvement last year in Bottle Branch on West Street and we’ve seen significant reduction of flooding over there, so our initiative now is on Hudson Branch.”
Kolar said additional work and maintenance on Flower Street would only be a nominal expense to the town.
“You’re not talking about any additional materials or you don’t need to purchase anything,” he said. “You can use the staff that they have for these types of things. It would be the same thing as having to mow the grass in the common area – this is just taking it to the next level with their stormwater systems.”
Several homes on Flower Street, specifically the area near Showell Street, have a gaping ditch running through their backyards. During a series of meetings last year, property owners complained to the town that they are literally losing ground.
“During those meetings a concern was expressed that the ditch that runs parallel to Showell Street (on Flower Street) – that ditchbank is becoming unstable,” said District 4 Councilmember, Dean Burrell.
Darl Kolar, and engineer from EA Engineering, Science and Technology, said a series of planned stormwater improvements would begin on Flower Street.
“We’re starting there … due to the importance of the area and the impact on those residents,” he said. “Our design approach is to relieve that flooding through the increase of the culvert system on Flower Street, and we’ve done some downstream work too.”
Kolar said Berlin has begun flagging areas with significant erosion, and would use a maintenance approach, beginning this week, to curb the problem.
“We’ll do that so that they can be immediately addressed, whether they can put some stone down to shore that up, or, ideally, it would be part of the construction of the improvements on Flower Street,” Kolar said. “And that’s not a reactive approach. In the fall and in the spring they have maintenance events to look at these. Part of the stormwater utility provides the town these capabilities to get in there and do more maintenance of things that have been neglected over many, many years.”
Flower Street residents, Kolar said, were the “complete opposite of being ignored.”
“These residents are the key component of the initiative starting where it is on Flower Street,” he said. “We’re definitely taking those guys into consideration.”
Burrell said he recently reminded Kolar of his commitment to Flower Street.
“He said that he would adjust the plan and give us an update at the next council meeting,” said Burrell. “(Stormwater) is a problem that has been going on for a long time. We feel that the citizens of Berlin have a right to not have their home and their property flooded out. This is why we’re taking a look at that system and why we created this stormwater utility – to address these problems.”
“It’s just the right thing to do,” Burrell continued. “When we were holding these meetings we got tremendous support from the public, and rightfully so.”
The town received nearly $2 million in grants for new stormwater improvements this year from the Federal Emergency Management Agency, the Department of Natural Resources and the Maryland Department of Housing and Community Development’s Community Development Block Grant program. The grants expire in 2016, meaning construction would likely begin soon.
The three phases of upgrades include Flower Street, Williams Street and Cedar, Franklin, Maple, Grice and Nelson streets.
“(Those three phases) will be a major dent in the flooding all throughout town,” Kolar said. “It affects Hudson Branch, but there are other waterways with Bottle Branch, which goes passed the West Street area, and then you have Kitts Branch on the other side of town. We made one improvement last year in Bottle Branch on West Street and we’ve seen significant reduction of flooding over there, so our initiative now is on Hudson Branch.”
Kolar said additional work and maintenance on Flower Street would only be a nominal expense to the town.
“You’re not talking about any additional materials or you don’t need to purchase anything,” he said. “You can use the staff that they have for these types of things. It would be the same thing as having to mow the grass in the common area – this is just taking it to the next level with their stormwater systems.”