Lower Preparing Designs, Awaiting Permits for Outfall Pipes

VILLAS — The question is not where the outfalls will fall but when the outfalls will fall and it probably won’t be in the fall.
Lower Township Council introduced an ordinance Monday that would appropriate $300,000 and authorize the issuance of $245,000 in bonds to replace storm water outfall pipes at 15 locations along Delaware Bay.
The project will extend the outfall pipes and include tidal flush valves on the ends of the pipes to keep bay water from washing back to storm drains in streets. A number of the outfall pipes have been buried in sand or clogged.
At least two streets experience flooding problems during heavy rain.
Township Manager Kathy McPherson told the Herald the township was waiting for permits from both the state Department of Environmental Protection and the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers. She said six months could elapse before work on the outfall pipes begins.
Council approved a $51,000 contract with the engineering firm of Hatch Mott MacDonald to design, bid and oversee construction of the outfall pipes.
McPherson said she wanted to be prepared to start construction when approvals are received from the state and federal agencies.
She said the township has applied for federal stimulus money. Designs for the project need to be submitted if Obama Administration stimulus money becomes available for the outfall project, said McPherson.
She said two additional outfall pipes have been added to the project, located at Ocean and Broadway avenues. An outfall and a pipe to a pumping station at Ohio Avenue will be replaced which is located very close to a house and require a contractor, she said.