Pike
County administers a Dirt & Gravel Road maintenance
program for Municipalities. A 4-member
Quality Assurance Board reviews project proposals and
awards money to local municipalities and/or state
agencies with jurisdictions over dirt and gravel roads.
This program is funded through the PA State Conservation
Commission to provide “safe,
efficient, and environmentally sound maintenance of
sections of Dirt and Gravel Roads identified as sources
of dust and sediment pollution
to waterways.”
The State
Conservation Commission adopted the following policy
regarding training for municipalities and other grant
recipients: Effective January 1, 2006 at least one
person representing the entity that has applied for
funds from the Dirt and Gravel Road Maintenance Program
must have attended environmentally sensitive maintenance
training for dirt and gravel roads within the past five
(5) calendar years. A municipality may not
submit an application if it does not have at least one
person who has attended the training within 5 years of
the date of an application.
Notice:
The District’s Quality Assurance Board (QAB) is
currently accepting applications for funding under the
Dirt and Gravel Road Maintenance Program. Although the
application period may remain open year round, funding
is limited and we recommend that applications for 2008
projects be submitted by March 30, 2008,
after which the QAB will rank applications and begin
allocating funds. All municipally-owned dirt and gravel
roads that are impacting streams or other water
resources are eligible for the program as long as at
least one person representing the municipality has
attended environmentally sensitive maintenance training
for dirt and gravel roads within the past 5 calendar
years.
Dirt & Gravel Road Grant
Application
Interested
municipal officials can contact the District office for
further details. For a schedule of training events and
program information visit the Pennsylvania
Center for Dirt and Gravel Road Studies
Pike County Act 167
Stormwater Management Planning Update
Pennsylvania Act 167, The Stormwater Management Act,
mandates that each county shall prepare and adopt a
watershed stormwater management plan for each watershed
located in the county as designated by the department,
in consultation with the municipalities located within
each watershed, and shall periodically review and revise
such plan at least every five years. There are
seven such designated watersheds in Pike County: Shohola
Creek, Bushkill Creek, Wallenpaupack Creek, Lackawaxen
River, Sawkill Creek, Delaware River (land areas in Pike
County with direct drainage to the River) and Brodhead
Creek. Act 167 Plans for several of these watersheds
developed in the late 1980s and early 1990s are in need
of updating. Currently, the only up to date plan is
that for Brodhead Creek, recently adopted by Monroe
County.
The Pike
County Commissioners met recently with representatives
of the Pennsylvania Department of Environmental
Protection (DEP) to discuss initiating a stormwater
management planning effort for Pike County. This issue
is most urgent in a rapidly developing county such as
ours, where development activities are changing the
surface features of the land and altering stormwater
runoff characteristics, sometimes drastically and with
unintended consequences. Managing all aspects of
stormwater – controlling peak rates of flow during
extreme rainfall events; reducing the overall volume of
runoff during large and small rainfall events;
protecting water quality; and maintaining groundwater
recharge for wells and stream flow – are all vital
elements of protecting Pike County’s water resources,
reducing flooding and protecting property and
infrastructure.
Municipalities also play an important role in Act 167
stormwater management planning, since the preparation
and adoption of a stormwater management plan by the
County may require changes to local land use
regulations. Act 167 specifies: within six months
following adoption and approval of the watershed storm
water plan, each municipality shall adopt or amend, and
shall implement such ordinances and regulations... as
are necessary to regulate development within the
municipality in a manner consistent with the applicable
watershed storm water plan and the provisions of this
act.
Stormwater management
planning will be undertaken in two phases: Phase I, the
preparation of a scope of study, and Phase II, the
actual plan preparation. Pike County is currently
reviewing a draft agreement for a Phase I Watershed
Management Plan Grant for all the watersheds in Pike
County.
Resources for Stormwater Management
PA Stormwater Best Management Practices Manual
Brodhead and McMichaels Creek Watershed (Monroe County)
Stormwater Model Ordinance
Pocono Northeast
Resource & Conservation Development Council's
stormwater management resources for Municipalities
website:
www.stormwaterresourcesformunicipalities.com
Geographic Information Services
For
information on PA GIS
data layers please visit:
http://www.pasda.psu.edu/
