Increased flooding driving development issues
NEW HANOVER » As development issues continue to be front and center for township supervisors, increased scrutiny is being placed on stormwater.
During their Feb. 6 meeting, township supervisors voted to grant a twoyear extension of the 2015 preliminary approval for a 52-unit subdivision on 22 acres on Romig Road.
Changes to how the state calculates stormwater capacity had kept the developers from proceeding to final site plan drawings, said Frank Bartle, attorney for the developers.
Township plans for the project indicate the developer to be 233 Schuylkill Road LLP, which shares the Fairview Village address of the Gambone Brothers Development Company.
But before the extension was granted, Bartle was grilled by Supervisor W. Ross Snook, who is also a member of the township’s environmental advisory board and takes a deep interest in storm water and flooding issues, which have worsened in recent torrential rainstorms.
The project is bordered by the west branch of Swamp Creek, according to the map submitted by the developer.
Snook asked detailed questions about basement sump pumps’ role in stormwater calculations and the size and design of the basins meant to capture and hold that rain runoff until it can soak back into the ground.
Snook and Supervisor Kurt Zebrowsky, who also serves on the township planning commission, asked if the developers would be willing to have an Army Corps of Engineers wetland survey of the site.
Bartle expressed doubt, noting such an effort “could take six months to get started.”
The supervisors were not alone in raising concerns. Several residents of properties bordering the project raised concerns as well, saying flooding in the region is getting worse.
Donald Heim has lived in his Heather Lane home for 20 years and he told the supervisors flooding is already getting worse before a shovel has been put into the ground for this project.
“When they’re done and they leave town, I’m stuck with it,” he said.
Even newer residents are having problems. One resident in a relatively new home in the Windlestrae sub-division said she has seen flooding get worse in just three years.
Even in dry weather, there is standing water in her back yard, said Mary Ann Devry. “It’s like a swamp.”
And when it rains, “it’s like a running river,” she said.
Similar concerns were raised just 10 days earlier when a crowd of about 100 gathered at the township recreation cneter for a meeting on the massive 779-unit new Hanover Town Center project.
Town Center is proposed on 209 acres bounded by Swamp Pike in the north, Route 663 in the east and Township Line Road to the west.
That developer is seeking several variances from the township’s stormwater ordinances.
“I’m glad we’re talking about flooding,” New Hanover Fire Chief Bill Moyer said at that meeting.
“We had eight water rescues on July 11,” said Moyer when the region experienced massive flash flooding. “I don’t talk about 100year floods anymore,” said Moyer. “The new norm in Montgomery County is not massive fires, it’s water rescues.”