By Tara Fischer

Staff Writer

(July 16, 2026) The Berlin Town Council voted this week to proceed with a stormwater management upgrades project that officials hope will increase stormwater storage capacity and reduce flooding.

The vote came despite residents arguing the work fails to address longtime neighborhood drainage problems.

The project, which was approved with Councilman Jack Orris opposed and Councilwoman Shaneka Nichols absent, will be advertised for construction bids before returning to the council for contract approval.

Engineer Steven Lemasters told the council that the construction phase is fully grant-funded through a state Whole Watershed grant, with a focus on improving water quality in Newport Bay. The initiative also hopes to offer flood mitigation help.

The work will modernize and expand two existing stormwater management facilities — one near the end of Upshur Lane and another within Buckingham Estates. Lemasters said both ponds were built to outdated Maryland stormwater standards and will be converted into submerged gravel wetlands.

“The project is incorporating an expansion of the Buckingham Estates stormwater management facility, retrofitting it to be a more modern structure, in addition to doing the same thing at Upshur,” the engineer said.

According to the construction documents, the project includes excavating and enlarging the existing ponds, installing submerged gravel wetlands, replacing storm drainage infrastructure, constructing new drainage structures, relocating portions of a water main, installing fencing around the facilities, restoring disturbed areas, and resurfacing portions of Westminster Drive and Abbey Lane.

Contractors will also be responsible for erosion control, traffic maintenance, and restoring affected driveways, landscaping and other property features.

One bid alternate would replace an existing 24-inch storm drain pipe along Abbey Lane with a larger 36-inch pipe.

Berlin Mayor Zack Tyndall asked whether the project could also include a pedestrian connection between Upshur Lane and Abbey Lane.

“People do cut in and out,” Tyndall said. “It would be nice to have a defined way.”

Lemasters said a walking path and educational displays explaining how the stormwater facilities improve water quality could possibly be incorporated.

The engineer emphasized the project is designed to retain more water rather than redirect it elsewhere.

“Everything from the school to the Upshur, Tingle area to Buckingham … all flows out to West Street currently,” he said. “We’re not configuring anything to redirect water. The two stormwater features will hold more water. So, you expect to see a reduction of flooding within the roadways themselves.”

Tyndall maintained that the greatest flooding concerns are typically around the intersection of West Street, Abbey Lane and Westminster Drive.

“This should, hypothetically, hold more of that water in these submerged gravel wetlands as opposed to being in the public right-of-way or in citizens’ yards,” he said.

However, Lemasters cautioned that the project is not a complete solution.

“This is where we’re doing something to improve the situation,” he said. “It’s not a solution to flooding at Abbey and West since we still have that bottleneck existing.”

Orris asked whether retaining more water upstream could create problems because the existing drainage pipe at West Street remains only 24 inches in diameter.

Lemasters responded that the older facilities were originally designed to manage roughly an inch of rainfall, while the upgraded ponds will be capable of managing approximately 3.6 inches of rainfall over a 24-hour period.

Council Vice President Dean Burrell asked how much additional water the ponds would hold. Lesmasters estimated their storage capacity would increase by roughly four times after construction.

Councilman Jay Knerr asked whether residents would notice a significant reduction in flooding once the project is complete.

“I think we’ll have a significant reduction,” Lemasters said.

Questions also arose about downstream impacts east of Route 113.

Lemasters said all stormwater in the watershed eventually reaches that area, but because the new facilities will retain substantially more runoff, he expects flows east of the highway to decrease as well.

Residents, however, expressed concerns that the project fails to consider the longstanding and severe flooding issue many homeowners must endure.

Resident Mary Hedlesky said that while she appreciated efforts to reduce flooding near West Street and Abbey Lane, the initiative does not address chronic drainage issues affecting nearly 30 homes farther upstream.

“I’m still watching my yard flood away,” Hedlesky said.

She argued that years of permits allowing swimming pools, patios, and other impediments within drainage swales have blocked the natural flow of water, causing it to back up into residential properties rather than reaching the stormwater ponds.

“This isn’t going to help any of that to drain to get into those ponds,” she said. “There are bigger issues.”

Hedlesky worried the town could spend grant funding improving the ponds only to later discover it must reconstruct them again after addressing the neighborhood’s drainage problems.

Lemasters said if water is unable to reach the ponds because drainage has been obstructed on private property, the project cannot solve that problem.

“If there’s something impeding flow in the backyards, this project isn’t directly helping that, and the impediment would have to be removed on the private property,” he said.

Tyndall maintained that pursuing the grant-funded improvements does not mean the town is ignoring residents’ concerns.

“We hear these things, but we have to work in the confines of the available funding,” he said. “Rather than doing nothing at all, we want to make some meaningful strides to try and improve the area.”

He added that the town could explore working with its attorney on future efforts to address structures built within drainage swales.

Resident Carol Rose asked why the town had relied on grants to address flooding that residents have experienced for more than a decade.

“There has to be money somewhere to take care of an issue that’s been going on for 10 years,” she said.

Town Administrator Mary Bohlen explained that the grant’s primary purpose is improving water quality entering Newport Bay, with flood reduction serving as an additional benefit.

“The primary focus of the fund is to improve the water quality in Newport Bay,” Bohlen said. “At the same time, we can also address some of the stormwater mitigation problems.”