The Middle Peninsula Planning District Commission has received an EPA grant for $150,000 from National Fish and Wildlife Federation to find ways to manage stormwater in the six-county area it serves.
Thirty-seven projects across the country were selected from a pool of 2,000 applicants to receive a total of $2.2 million in U.S. Environmental Protection Agency grants, said Cheryl Vosburg of the public relations firm MSBD, Inc. Of the projects chosen, 14 were in the Chesapeake Bay watershed. EPA administrator Lisa Jackson announced the awards on July 9.
David O’Neill, director of the Eastern Partnership Office of the NFW, a private, non-profit organization, said the project was selected because it’s collaborative in nature, with a number of counties and towns coming together to share information and costs. Not only that, he said, but stormwater management is an important issue, and the project will help explore ways to reduce pollution. Finally, he said, the Middle Peninsula is an important area for Chesapeake Bay cleanup efforts.
“It has two great rivers and a great track record of conservation work,” said O’Neill. “And the localities are showing leadership by trying to tackle these issues together … They should be proud of the work they’ve proposed and the difference they’re making.”
MPPDC director Lewie Lawrence said the grant won’t come directly to the MPPDC. Instead, it will be in the form of technical services by a group of consultants who will “look at how the pieces fit together, what the cost will be, and how we’re going to do it.”
The Virginia General Assembly has mandated that localities develop stormwater management plans in conjunction with existing erosion and sediment control programs by July 1, 2014, said Lawrence, and stormwater quality issues also have to be addressed under the Chesapeake Bay TMDL Phase II Watershed Implementation Plan and Virginia Stormwater Regulations.
The plans must include an analysis of staff and budget needs; recommendations about ordinances, procedures, policies and enforcement measures that can be incorporated; a database of existing stormwater management facilities; programs for maintenance and inspection; ways to sustain the plan financially; guidelines for incorporating green infrastructure; a list of prioritized improvement projects for possible inclusion; performance standards; and ways to educate the public about the plan.
Preliminary plans for two stormwater management/bio-retention demonstration projects will be developed under the grant, as well, said Lawrence, one in Essex County and the other in Mathews County. Each county proposes to develop a rain garden or similar feature at its Colonial-era courthouse to manage stormwater and educate the public, he said.
Lawrence said he hopes to offer the program as a model for other localities around the Chesapeake Bay and across Virginia. The work plan calls for the project to be completed by October 2013 and then presented to the localities for adoption.
The localities in the MPPDC are the counties of Gloucester, Mathews, Middlesex, King and Queen, King William and Essex and the towns of Tappahannock, Urbanna and West Point.