Planning begins for storm water management

Monroeville council has begun the process to comply with the state Department of Environmental Protection’s stormwater discharge management program, municipal separate storm sewer system, also known as the MS4program.

Council voted unanimously on June 12 to hire MS Consultants of Moon and HRG Engineering of Cranberry for engineering consultation services relative to Monroeville’s MS4 project.

Municipal manager Tim Little said the process to become compliant with the MS4 mandate is a long one.

“There will be ongoing costs for the next 20 years,” Mr. Little said.

Following proposal request submissions, there willbe public meetings, ordinance consideration and presentations for the public from the selected engineeringfirm.

“It’s a big project,” Mr. Little said.

Resident Elisa Beck of Sustainable Monroeville said she wanted to make sure the engineering firms understand things that can be done to become compliant from a sustainability standpoint.

Councilman Ron Harvey said the municipality’s MS4 committee has sifted through a lot of information and that the engineering firms are familiar with environmentally friendly solutions.

“This is about pollution control and flood reduction,” Mr. Harvey said.

In other business, Councilman Jim Johns reminded residents of the annual Fourth of July parade and fireworks. The parade will start at 9 a.m. July 4 at the Miracle Mile Shopping Center and will proceed west on Route 22 toward the Monroeville Mall. Fireworks will go off at 9:30 p.m. at the mall annex.