Herrin for Mayor's BOROUGH BRIEFS

 

October 9, 2017

 

Welcome to my 4th newsletter - all about clean streets and the Stream Protection Fee. 

Sign up to receive future issues on my home page, and find my first 3 newsletters
by scrolling through my news blog here!

~Dianne

Dianne@Herrinformayor.com

What's Being Done to Clean the Streets?

 

Everyone wants clean sidewalks in town, and the Borough faces a constant battle with those who thoughtlessly discard bottles, cans, cups, newspapers, pizza boxes and cigarette butts. I recently met with Business Improvement District (BID) Director Malcolm Johnstone to talk about this issue, and I learned that creating a cleaner downtown is among BID's most challenging goals.

 

The BID works with WCU's community outreach coordinators and the Chester County District courts, and more than 1,000 volunteer hours are dedicated each year to cleaning our sidewalks. But because the effort is volunteer-based, there hasn't been a consistent, regular cleanup effort.

 

 

But there's good news! DGS Landscaping Co., which manages much of the flower beautification in the downtown, will now be providing a large part of the downtown sidewalk cleaning. The BID believes this will make a noticeable difference. 

 

The BID has also purchased equipment to help with one of the most frustrating clean-up challenges: Cigarette butts lodged between the sidewalk bricks. People consistently discard butts, and they're very hard to remove. The new equipment should make this clean-up effort easier, and the BID is eager to make it work! 

 

Image: WCU students contributing to Operation Clean Streets in downtown. Courtesy BID. Article adapted in part from the BID blog.

 

Sediment - carried to our waterways in stormwater runoff from

driveways, roads and other impervious surfaces - increases flooding by

clogging storm drains and catch basins. It also degrades the quality of water

for drinking, causes massive declines in fish populations, and activates toxic algae.

 

The Stream Protection Fee:  

Where Do We Go From Here?

 

Background 

The Stream Protection Fee (SPF) is Borough Council's response to an unfunded regulatory mandate. It requires local governments to reduce sediment pollution to make our water fishable, swimmable, and clean enough to continue to be our source of drinking water. This is a big undertaking, because the Borough has to reduce runoff with projects like bumpouts and rain gardens, and it must also repair our decaying 100-year-old underground stormwater system (pictured above). 

 

After 7 meetings of a special stormwater committee (residents, nonprofits, businesses, WCU, Borough staff), 10 Borough Council meetings, 12 public/stakeholder meetings, and 2 public hearings, Borough Council chose the SPF to fund the improvements because this distributes the financial burden among all Borough entities. Unlike a tax, the fee applies to residents, businesses and non-profits. A tax would have exempted all non-profit parcels and increased the financial burden on residents and businesses by 25%. 

 

Issues

After speaking with many residents, I have identified four concerns with the program: 

 

1-Inconsistent property assessments. The fee is based on the % of impervious surface on your parcel. In some cases, parcels with similar footprints are charged different fees due to imperfections in the mapping data used to calculate the percentages. 

 

2-Hardship. The fee is a financial hardship for some residents.

 

3-Difficult appeals process. The process for appealing an assessment, which involves measuring and graphing your property, can be cumbersome.

 

4-No sunset provision. No provisions exist to sunset the fee because it is difficult to predict when the streams will be healthy again There are 50 projects already identified to help achieve the mandate. 

 

Some have also suggested repealing the program altogether. This may sound appealing, but Borough Council would still need to find a way to pay for this mandate. Simply proposing a repeal is not reasonable without a viable, equitable funding alternative. 

 

Moving Forward Together

I did not take part in designing or implementing the SPF program but, as mayor, I will work with stakeholders and Borough Council, which has the decision-making authority to make changes to the program. I think the Borough can:

 

  • Adopt criteria to exempt lower-income residents.
  • Strengthen the credit program, which financially incentivizes residents and business owners who put measures in place to reduce stormwater runoff.
  • Streamline the appeals process and ensure that Borough personnel are assigned to support appeals, so they're easier and more efficient.
  • Investigate ways to make property assessments more consistent. 

 

Finally, any sunset provision will be dictated by the progress the Borough makes in cleaning up our waterways and should be re-evaluated on a regular basis. 

 

I look forward to your comments!

Paid for by Dianne Herrin for Mayor Committee. 

Content generated by Dianne Herrin.

Dianne@Herrinformayor.com

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