SUPPORT FOR ARCHES
$281K in state funding will repair stormwater arches
POTTSTOWN >> The borough’s aging and, in some cases, collapsing stormwater arches will get some much needed attention
thanks, in part, to some timely state funding.
The office of state Sen. Bob Mensch, R24th Dist., announced that $281,884 in flood mitigation funding is coming for the $331,629 project.
The project will identify and make
emergency repairs to deficient stormwater arches, which are mostly brick and stone arches over four primary streams built over the years as Pottstown was developed.
Damage to those arches was magnified during a July 11 storm in Pottstown that
widened the hole left by a collapsing arch off an alley between Walnut and Chestnut streets; as well as creating a new one in an alley between Spruce and North Hanover streets, just off Airy Street.
“Watershed restoration and stormwater infrastructure projects are critical for healthy communities, but they are very expensive,” Mensch said. “I am very pleased to announce this state assistance for this important work.”
The funds were approved by the seven-member Commonwealth Financing Authority board. The CFA is an independent agency of the Department of Community and Economic Development. It holds fiduciary responsibility over the funding of programs and investments in Pennsylvania’s economic growth.
Borough Manager Justin Keller said it is intended that this funding will go toward the repair at 42 Walnut St. assuming the property owner is in agreement.
The remainder of the funding will be made up from borough funds and we will also seek a contribution from the property owner which has yet to be determined, Keller said.
“This funding is a significant step toward addressing much-needed emergency repairs to failed stormwater arches located under both public and private properties,” Keller said. “These funds will additionally allow for engineering evaluations to prioritize preventive maintenance in locations where further deterioration may cause structural deficiencies. The borough is truly grateful for the assistance of Sen. Mensch, Rep. Ciresi and Rep. Hennessey and their steadfast dedication to find and prioritize funding for this critical stormwater infrastructure.”
Although helpful, the funding is a drop in the stream to the overall problem the borough faces in
“Watershed restoration and stormwater infrastructure projects are critical for healthy communities, but they are very expensive. I am very pleased to announce this state assistance for this important work.” — State Sen. Bob Mensch, R-24th Dist.
identifying structural problems with arches that are, in many cases, more than 150 years old, but hidden from view.
The Pottstown Public Works has so far mapped 69 road crossings, and documented arches and tunnels under 225 privately owned parcels in Pottstown.
Even so, the public works department may not know where they all are. They were built slowly over the last 150 years as Pottstown was developed, and no one kept any records.
But they certainly know where they are when they collapse.
In 2004 an arch section beneath Walnut Street between North York and Manatawny streets collapsed in spectacular fashion.
It took 10 months and about $600,000 to repair, consuming Pottstown’s paving budget for two years and requiring a grant of almost half the cost from the Environmental Protection Agency.
Last May, Marcia Levengood became one of that growing number when she came out to the car behind her Walnut Street home and found a giant hole in her driveway. During the July 11 storm, floodwaters boiled up from the sinkhole and out into the alley, and the erosion made the sinkhole larger.
Considering the outsized cost of repairing such structures, it’s more than the average property owner can bear and often more than an insurance company is willing to pay.
“Something like this could cost half-a-million dollars to fix. What kind of homeowner has that kind of money?” asked state Rep. Joe Ciresi, D-146th Dist. “It’s probably more than their house is worth.”
The result, he said, can be “the homeowner just walks away and Pottstown gets another abandoned property. That’s not something Pottstown needs,” said Ciresi, whose district comprises about 60 percent of the borough.
He was speaking during a tour of Pottstown’s stormwater infrastructure organized by Wolf administration officials, ironically, one day before the July 11 flood hit.
State Rep. Tim Hennessey, R-26th Dist., and he’s been getting an arch education in recent years as well.
“I’ve been inside one of them and you start to see the effect of 150 years of wear and tear on these tunnels and you start to realize the magnitude of the problem,” Hennessey said last month.
He noted that a 2012 study “predicted they would start to collapse,” and that prediction is proving disturbingly accurate.
The tour was an attempt to drum up support for Gov. Wolf’s $4.5 billion “Restore PA” proposal that would use a newly imposed severance tax on Marcellus shale gas extractions to fund a wife variety of projects aimed at bolstering the Commonwealth’s economic competitiveness.
In addition to things like infrastructure, green and otherwise, RestorePA would pay for storm preparedness and disaster recovery, certainly on the minds of Pottstown officials and homeowners after the July 11 storm.
Although in the storm’s wake, low-interest loans
have been made available to damaged homeowners and businesses, the damage did not reach the financial threshold to trigger a disaster declaration by Pennsylvania, meaning the borough will get no help from Harrisburg for the more than $1 million in damage to public property, mostly to Memorial Park.
RestorePA funds could also be used to pay for demolishing blighted properties
and redeveloping them; clean up former industrial sites, often called brownfields, to get them ready for redevelopment — both things that could benefit Pottstown.
Other uses include highspeed internet, transportation and transit projects, including “back roads,” and business development, according to materials provided by the the Pennsylvania Department of Environmental Protection.