Oakland County awarded $745,000 EPA grant to expand RainSmart homeowner rebates

Oakland County has been awarded a $745,000 grant from the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency’s Great Lakes Restoration Initiative to expand the RainSmart residential stormwater rebate program.

"The grant that we've been awarded is a Great Lakes Restoration Initiative grant from the EPA. We will be given $745,000 over about two and a half years," Stephanie Petrillo, environmental planner with the Water Resources Commissioner's Office, told commissioners. Petrillo said no county match is required.

County staff said the award will allow RainSmart to expand from its pilot service area to 24 municipalities across Oakland County and to incorporate an additional nonprofit partner, Friends of the Rouge, to provide one-on-one site assessments in the Rouge River watershed; the Clinton River Watershed Council will continue assessments in the Clinton watershed. Petrillo said approximately $270,000 of the grant is earmarked for homeowner rebate payments.

Petrillo reviewed the pilot's results: roughly 950 total applications, about 480 on-site assessments and roughly 680 individual projects installed by nearly 300 homeowners. With the new funding, staff expect to complete close to 1,000 site assessments over the grant period and stated the program already had more than 700 applications open since mid-March.

Commissioners asked about program outreach and monitoring. Petrillo said early outreach relied on social media and watershed-council networks and that the grant will help the county build systems to monitor installed projects over time; she noted many programs audit a percentage of projects annually to check maintenance. The committee approved forwarding acceptance of the grant to finance by a 7-0 vote.

The county indicated subawards and partnerships will include the Clinton River Watershed Council, Friends of the Rouge and the Center for Watershed Protection for tracking and technical assistance.