New fee from Stormwater Authority raises eyebrows
CHESTER » Area businesses are still coming to grips with the new monthly fee slapped on them – as well as residents – by the Stormwater Authority of Chester, the city’s newest authority, which will begin charging property owners in December.
Based on an assessed size of private residences around the city, larger business will incur greater charges on the space they occupy – the larger the footprint, the greater the cost.
The Stormwater Authority of Chester (SAC) held a meeting last week to discuss plans to “mitigate the ongoing problem” of stormwater runoff and pollution.
“According to the Chester City Government, stormwater runoff and its pollution have degraded over 55 percent of the streams within Chester City, causing widespread flooding and water quality problems,” said SAC Executive Manager Rev. Dr. Horace Stand, a longtime environmental activist in the city.
The aim for SAC is to enter into long term private-public partnerships that will bring in state and federal grants, in addition to the fees assessed on property owners, to establish new stormwater infrastructure and support workforce development.
The proposed improvements show a greener, smarter Chester that better manages the barren, concrete-covered expanses and post-industrial leftovers that have made managing storm water both costly and ineffective. The idea is for improved pedestrian spaces that are safer for foot traffic, including new housing designs that will retain value and foster longterm expansion with green roofs capable of proper water runoff, along with more grass and more trees. all of which will make the city a more attractive destination.
However, this comes at a cost, and as it stands the new fees on businesses could damage the city’s attractiveness for investors.
On charges that will be assessed to property owners starting in December, impervious surfaces on an average single-family residential property was used to determine one Equivalent Residential Unit (ERU) at 1,139 square feet. The cost per ERU in Chester is $15.60.
A 10,000 square-foot property will be charged $1,643.52 a year.
The following is an estimate in the costs that businesses could incur in the city. There have been no confirmation on the fees or how businesses might be able to negotiate costs.
For some of the city’s largest businesses – Talen Energy Stadium, Harrah’s Philadelphia, Widener University, Kimberly-Clark, Crozer-Chester Medical Center – the fees could be in the tens of thousands of dollars a year.
“We are aware of the stormwater fee and are in the process of gathering information as to how this initiative may impact our business,” offered the Philadelphia Union in a statement.
As the primary tenant of the stadium, the Union pay a $150,000 host fee to the city of Chester. The stadium itself is owned by the quasi-government agency the Delaware County Chester Waterfront Industrial Authority, a county-run entity that does not pay property taxes to the city.
The Union did not respond to a request for accurate property size.
The Chester Waterfront occupies about 100 acres that includes a portion that is controlled by Keystone Sports, which owns and operates the Philadelphia Union; GWSI, owned by Gerace Enterprise; and POWER Home Remodeling, which is the main tenant in the Wharf at Rivertown, a 400,000-square-foot office space in the restored former Philadelphia Power Plant building.
Using satellite mapping to estimate the size of the property the Union occupies, one can wager a guess at potential costs. From Route 291 to the waterfront and from the western Townsend Street to the eastern Central Avenue, the Philadelphia Union and Talen Energy Stadium occupies 4,138,340 square feet along the Delaware River, including parking lots, unused land and areas along the river.
Note that part of the land to the western end that occupies the team’s practice facility, the Power Training Complex, is part of POWER Home Remodeling’s footprint.
However, based on that estimate, an ERU of 1,139 square feet and a cost of $15.60 per ERU, could cost the Union $56,679.63 a month. That, however, is not an official number.
But, will the onus of the costs fall onto the tenant of the stadium? That remains to be seen.
Additionally, in Chester, much of the property in the Keystone Opportunity Zone, which Harrah’s, Talen Energy Stadium and POWER Home Remodeling occupy, is also speckled with private lot owners who have “pledged to sell” when opportunity arises.
Amidst the bid to lure online retail giant Amazon to the city’s waterfront for its second headquarters, Delaware County Council pledged 200,000 square feet of land for development. That could be a stormwater fee of $32,870 a year.
The Chester Stormwater Authority acknowledged that it would work with property owners to negotiate costs. Impervious land in Wilmington, Del., for example include differentials on runoff coefficients, such as more porous land like woods, grass and gravel. Owners who have more green space on their property pay less than owners with more concrete and impervious structures.
Wilmington also will adjust storm water fees based on amount of property that is marked as woods, marsh, wetlands, grass, loose gravel, compacted gravel, cobblestone, concrete, asphalt and structures. The more porous the land, the less fees are owed.
Additionally, the cost per Equivalent Storm Water Unit (ESU) in Wilmington is $14.847, and one ESU is 789 square feet.
It’s unclear how the authority in Chester might negotiate a similar reduction in fees.
For Widener University, a registered 501.3C, the stormwater authority in Chester said that nonprofits like Crozer, Widener and various churches around the city would have negotiable fees.
“The university just learned about it in the past few days and we haven’t yet received an official notification,” said Widener Communications Director Mary E. Ellen.
Chester Stormwater Authority Solicitor Joseph Oxman, a partner with the Philadelphia-based law firm Oxman Goodstadt Kuritz P.C., said there will be a hearing process for landowners to negotiate costs.
Kimberly-Clark declined comment and Harrah’s Philadelphia did not respond to request for comment. Calls to Stormwater Authority of Chester Chair Livia Smith, the director of Public Health Services for the city of Chester, and Vice Chair Portia West, Chester Deputy Mayor and Director of Streets & Public Improvements, did not return requests for comment.