Pattye Benson

Community Matters

Do You Live in Tredyffrin Township and Struggle with Stormwater Issues? Plan to Attend: Public Forum of the Resident Stormwater Task Force on Tuesday, Jan. 7, 7 PM

If you are a Tredyffrin Township resident dealing with stormwater issues (and aren’t we all?), please plan to attend the first public form of the Stormwater Task Force on Tuesday, January 7, 7 PM at Tredyffrin Township building. Tredyffrin supervisors authorized the citizens’ Stormwater Advisory Task Force to assist the township in characterizing stormwater problems and recommending solutions. At the meeting on Tuesday, the Task Force will provide some background to stormwater in the township and lay out its goals and approach and ask for resident input.

The Task Force is primarily collecting data about stormwater problems through an on-line survey. Residents can go to: https://www.surveymonkey.com/r/TredyffrinStormwater to enter information into the comprehensive Township wide database. If you have general questions, you can email the Task Force at: stormwatertaskforce@gmail.com.

Given that many of our neighborhoods regularly deal with major stormwater issues, a citizen-led township Stormwater Task Force is needed and much-appreciated. Nobody knows a community better than its residents.

A recent example is the proposed parking lot on Irish Road which is part of the Conestoga High School expansion project. The parking lot plan requires the removal of many trees from its wooded lot. We know that rainwater does not percolate into impervious surfaces but runs off instead. Impervious surface is the primary contributor to stormwater runoff and is a major contributor to flooding.

Residents in the high school area (particularly Irish Road, Lizbeth Lane and Oak Lane) have suffered with major stormwater and flooding issues for years – if you know the area, many homes in the neighborhood sit downhill from the proposed high school expansion project and parking lot. Such a large land development project, which includes the removal of many trees, is certain to impact a community already impacted by stormwater runoff problems and stormwater issues.

Residents township wide are experiencing severe stormwater issues – from Glenhardie, Deepdale and Strafford Park areas to the Pennsylvania Turnpike neighbors in the Great Valley and anyone in the township living close to the Trout and Valley Creek watersheds. If you are experiencing stormwater issues, you are encouraged to attend the meeting on Tuesday and make your concerns known. Neighbors cannot afford further damage and possible devaluation of property as a result of severe runoff issues.

Let’s work together with the citizens’ Stormwater Task Force to help mitigate and prevent flooding and erosion of our properties!

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  1. Many thanks for the community heads-up, Pattye. As co-chair of the Task Force, I’m hoping that we can help paint a comprehensive picture of the issues and provide menus of solutions and funding options that will help the Township prioritize action.

    The Task Force needs everyone that is aware of stormwater problems to complete the survey to ensure the data is complete. That survey will be the primary means of assessing the magnitude of problem areas, so that meetings can focus on solutions more than problems. So please, CM readers, click on the link above!

    And as Pattye states above, “let’s work together”. Regardless of where you live, all property owners can play their part to moderate flooding from stormwater run-off. And, of course, our local government has an important role to play. Complex problems and difficult solutions, but the Task Force hopes to help!

  2. Hold on to your wallet: the township’s “fix” will be a rain tax. It won’t fix the problems, but the township doesn’t care: they want your money. The over-development abetting their agenda of huge population density is a large part of the problem, and they won’t change that, as they are wedded to “Smart Growth” and all its corrosiveness in destroying the community we used to know. Fight them tooth and nail

  3. Ray,

    At least in Easttown, surveys are pretty much ignored. Even when the Township is doing the survey. Residents of Devon were surveyed in regards to what type of properties they did not want to see developed in our neighborhood. High density apartments led the way. However, it was ignored. Through the grapevine, we heard that certain Supervisors thought the survey wasn’t big enough.

    OK, so along comes the Berwyn Square proposal. 365 signatures (without a huge effort by the way) stating our desire to not have a high density project dropped into an existing neighborhood. The reaction from our officials. One Supervisor is still over the top enthusiastic about the project. He even voted for the project in an online poll on FB where he could be identified. 2 of his colleagues claim the need to stay silent but both have told others that they support the project.

    Then, the election occurred. The candidates that ran who were against the Berwyn Square proposal (and Devon re-zoning) won by a landslide in one case and by a significant amount in the other race. However, it was a complete wipeout in 2 of the precincts that would be most effected. The reaction? The exact same. ZERO leadership from the incumbent Supervisors.

    While I hope your survey yields a positive result, I would not get your hopes up. The battle needs to be fought on several fronts.

    1. It’s about elected officials and members of planning commissions.

      Citizens who Can personally gain something are the residents who generally run for office or volunteer to serve on the committees. Who is on the Planning and/or land development committee? Committees used to comprise of real estate agents, now they’re full of architects, engineers, and lawyers who work for architects and engineers.

      When you take care of who is elected to Boards, you take care of who is appointed to committees and that takes care of planning decisions made that affect neighborhoods.

  4. There are good points in this discussion. From my perspective, a few comments:

    – The Task Force is indeed just one component; we want to bring an objective, resident-focused perspective. We are committed to painting a comprehensive picture, starting from the survey data. (Paint by numbers, it occurs to me!)
    – We want to help prioritize solutions to direct limited funds to benefit the most people with the greatest impact
    – We think that there is now enough experience of stormwater funding options in other municipalities that useful lessons can be drawn to allow Tredyffrin to develop a pragmatic approach
    – There’s a lack of clarity everywhere (including for me) about rights and responsibilities of everyone involved; there’s an opportunity to help with education.
    – I have seen nothing but support from the BOS so far – of course it’s early days.

    I hope everyone will participate in the process and stay tuned!

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