Wallace town manager explains stormwater process

WALLACE — Wallace Town Manager Rob Taylor gave a presentation to the town council during the regular monthly meeting Thursday night, to explain the town’s stormwater process and fee schedule.

Wallace has had a stormwater drainage control ordinance in place since 1997, and the stormwater utility enterprise fund was started in 2002, Taylor said. “The purpose of the stormwater policy is basically to control flooding, erosion, and improve water quality,” he explained.

Taylor also showed the council a graphic that explains how the stormwater policy works and how the water flows. “You can say, [rain is] going to fall all over town, it’ll fall on construction sites, parking lots, your personal homes, streets… all of that drains into the stormwater system, which eventually works its way to waterways,” Taylor said. “A lot of it drains to either Boney Mill Pond or Little Rockfish Creek. That’s the outfall and then that eventually gets out to the Northeast Cape Fear River, and then that of course gets out to the Atlantic Ocean.”

“Every property owner is required to maintain their property so that it does not flood upstream or downstream,” he continued. “So, we consider all of Wallace our system, and we don’t want water backing up in our system that will cause problems for somebody upstream from us, and we don’t want anybody downstream from us causing issues that back up in our system.”

Town property owners are billed for stormwater, which used to be $4.95 per 2,400 square feet, but was increased to $5 in the most recent budget cycle. “So it’s charged on an ERU — equivalent residential unit,” Taylor said. “That’s the amount of impervious surface. For Wallace, our ERU is 2,400 square feet. This will vary from town to town, municipality to municipality what that number is. Residential units, homes, are charged a flat monthly fee of $5 per month. Commercial property is calculated on the size of the building and the parking lot, all the impervious surfaces.”

The largest producers of runoff tend to be shopping centers and parking lots, Taylor said. “Some of these have retention ponds that help slow that water down and others do not,” he said. “I think everyone is very familiar with the Food Lion shopping center that does not have a retention pond, and I don’t know how it got built. It was built before it was a requirement. We have a lot of flooding there because the system cannot handle the water that gets dropped in that area. It takes a little while for it to drain out.”

Fees generated from the stormwater fund go into the stormwater fund, which wasn’t always the case, Taylor said. “The street sweeper, that is a stormwater expense,” he added. “The purpose of the street sweeper is not just to keep your streets looking pretty; the purpose is to make sure that debris doesn’t fall down into the drainage system and cause blockages.”

Also at the Feb. 13 town council meeting, two public hearings were established for the next regular monthly meeting on March 13. First up is a request from Avery-Davis Investments, LLC to rezone 2.66 acres on Highway 117 from residential to highway business.

The second is a request, also from Avery-Davis Investments, to rezone the remaining Summerfield lots and a portion of the Martha Teachey tract from R-20 to R-15.

Planning director Rod Fritz said the rezoning is needed for the developer to construct some “nice custom homes” on that property, 10.13 acres on Springwood Drive.

In other business at the Feb. 13 meeting:

• Mayor Pro Tem Francisco Rivas-Diaz read a proclamation honoring Black History Month. The proclamation states in part: “because of their determination, hard work, and perseverance, African Americans have made valuable and lasting contributions to Wallace and our state, achieving exceptional success in all aspects of society, including business, education, politics, science, athletics, and the arts.”

• The council appointed Kris Bryant to serve on the library board.

• The council approved budget amendments related to the decision to move administration and planning offices to the former Parks and Recreation building, and to move Parks and Recreation to the Campbell Center at Clement Park.

• The council approved a request to finance two new police department vehicles through the USDA’s Rural Economic Development Loan and Grant program.

• Christmas lights were declared surplus, and will be donated to the towns of Rose Hill and Magnolia, with some going up for sale online as well.

• The council held a closed session to discuss the acquisition of property.