By DAVE SCHULTZ
This afternoon, the Bluffton Board of Public Works and Safety will take a first step toward creating a stormwater utility — another effect of the city growing past 10,000 residents.
That first move will be hiring an engineering firm to guide city officials through the preliminary steps required to set up the stormwater utility. That is one of several items on the Board of Works agenda.
As a result of its population moving into five digits, the city’s share of matching funding for the Community Crossings grants has gone up from 25 percent to 50 percent and the Bluffton Common Council membership will expand from five to seven individuals.
The stormwater utility will be somewhat complicated and yes, there will be a fee for city residents — although Mayor John Whicker has no guess at the moment what that will be.
“When anyone decides to build something that drains any kind of water, they’ll have to get a permit for that,” Whicker said during an interview Monday afternoon in his office.
The permit will be above and beyond the current permitting process, the mayor said, and will require city approval of the drainage plans.
The engineering firm — which could be chosen today — will analyze what the city will be required to do. After that, the BakerTilly municipal finance firm will “run the numbers,” as Whicker puts it.
One of the things that will require some work is what is called the “I&I” problem — short for “inflow and infiltration,” where stormwater gets into the sanitary sewer system.
The city has done some work along those lines and is planning to make a major step with a downtown sewer improvement problem that will upgrade its current sewer lines, which are among the oldest in the city.
One of the key factors in the cost of running the stormwater utility will be the amount of impervious ground — for instance, paved parking lots and sites that have large area under roof. Those situations alter rainwater’s flow into the ground, a situation that may require mitigation.
It’s going to take time and hard work, Whicker indicated.
“We have to cure 1,000 cuts,” he said.
daves@news-banner.com
