By Gordon Dritschilo
Staff Writer - Published: October 13, 2010
City officials hope a federal earmark will help keep floodwaters out of downtown.
Rep. Peter Welch, D-Vt., announced Tuesday that a $1 million appropriation for a storm water separation project had been approved by the House Appropriations Subcommittee and that he expected it would pass the full House during the upcoming “lame duck” session of Congress.
The city had initially requested $2 million for the project, which has an estimated price tag of $5 million, including design costs.
City engineer Evan Pilachowski said storm water drains through the city sewer, combining with sewage and overwhelms the system during heavy storms, like in the two recent floods. He said the lack of separation is another consequence of the city’s outdated system.
“Back 100 years ago, storm water and wastewater went directly into the brook so there was little reason to separate them,” he said. “We’re still using that same infrastructure.”
The change, Pilachowski said, requires new pipes, and possibly new catch basins, directing runoff away from the sewer plant and into East Creek. He said the project would mainly cover the downtown area.
“I don’t know quite yet what our options are,” Mayor Christopher Louras said of fully funding the upgrade. “The first step is going to be to get a firm design done, which is going to be a very expensive proposition in itself.”
Louras said he hoped the city will be able to apply the federal money to the design phase, which he said would likely be around $500,000, and that the project could be done in phases if necessary.
“This is the most critical infrastructure project in the city,” he said. “We will find a way to get it done.” How does the Mayor expect to pay for this if we do not recieve this money? More Taxes? We are already have the highest municipal tax rate amoung the more populated cities/towns in Vermont. Average Household income is $38,000 - that's two people - that's average wage of $9.00 per hour. Where will the money come from?
Louras thanked Welch for his work on the earmark.
“Most politicians speak in great platitudes about the downtowns, how important they are,” he said. “Frankly, there are a lot of people who talk the talk.”
Welch, Louras said, was “walking the walk” by responding to the call of Rutland business and property owners faced with an infrastructure problem the city could not address on its own.
Michael Coppinger, Downtown Rutland Partnership executive director, said he had received a lot of questions about the downtown flooding from businesses considering locating there and was glad to finally have a response to give.
Welch appeared in Rutland as part of his “Main Street Jobs Tour.” He gave a talk in Depot Park and stopped in a space under renovation above the Boys & Girls Club, Tattersall’s and The Book King, where he bought a copy of Jonathan Franzen’s “Freedom.”
gordon.dritschilo@ rutlandherald.com
Staff Writer - Published: October 13, 2010
City officials hope a federal earmark will help keep floodwaters out of downtown.
Rep. Peter Welch, D-Vt., announced Tuesday that a $1 million appropriation for a storm water separation project had been approved by the House Appropriations Subcommittee and that he expected it would pass the full House during the upcoming “lame duck” session of Congress.
The city had initially requested $2 million for the project, which has an estimated price tag of $5 million, including design costs.
City engineer Evan Pilachowski said storm water drains through the city sewer, combining with sewage and overwhelms the system during heavy storms, like in the two recent floods. He said the lack of separation is another consequence of the city’s outdated system.
“Back 100 years ago, storm water and wastewater went directly into the brook so there was little reason to separate them,” he said. “We’re still using that same infrastructure.”
The change, Pilachowski said, requires new pipes, and possibly new catch basins, directing runoff away from the sewer plant and into East Creek. He said the project would mainly cover the downtown area.
“I don’t know quite yet what our options are,” Mayor Christopher Louras said of fully funding the upgrade. “The first step is going to be to get a firm design done, which is going to be a very expensive proposition in itself.”
Louras said he hoped the city will be able to apply the federal money to the design phase, which he said would likely be around $500,000, and that the project could be done in phases if necessary.
“This is the most critical infrastructure project in the city,” he said. “We will find a way to get it done.” How does the Mayor expect to pay for this if we do not recieve this money? More Taxes? We are already have the highest municipal tax rate amoung the more populated cities/towns in Vermont. Average Household income is $38,000 - that's two people - that's average wage of $9.00 per hour. Where will the money come from?
Louras thanked Welch for his work on the earmark.
“Most politicians speak in great platitudes about the downtowns, how important they are,” he said. “Frankly, there are a lot of people who talk the talk.”
Welch, Louras said, was “walking the walk” by responding to the call of Rutland business and property owners faced with an infrastructure problem the city could not address on its own.
Michael Coppinger, Downtown Rutland Partnership executive director, said he had received a lot of questions about the downtown flooding from businesses considering locating there and was glad to finally have a response to give.
Welch appeared in Rutland as part of his “Main Street Jobs Tour.” He gave a talk in Depot Park and stopped in a space under renovation above the Boys & Girls Club, Tattersall’s and The Book King, where he bought a copy of Jonathan Franzen’s “Freedom.”
gordon.dritschilo@ rutlandherald.com
Dear Folks
ReplyDeletePlease do not use the Sustainable Rutland logo in your postings. We - the board and staff of Sustainable Rutland - work quite hard to promote the positive aspects of our city and the positive potential of what could be. While we respect your opinions, it is not appropriate for our logo to be used to promote something other than the work and mission of our organization.
Thank you so much for recognizing this concern and taking our logo off of this blog posting.
Carol Tashie
President, Board of Directors, Sustainable Rutland