Charles Town committee plans deeper stormwater study with Greenway Engineering, pursues FEMA grant support

The Charles Town Infrastructure Committee on July 9 agreed to continue a citywide stormwater survey with Greenway Engineering and to pursue FEMA grant support for the study’s next phase. Council member Ricketts opened the conversation and asked staff for an update on the project timeline.

A staff member said the city has been submitting paperwork for a FEMA 5% grant "over the last 2 weeks to try to get ourselves some good graces for the next phase," and that securing that grant would position the city to move ahead. Committee members supported inviting Greenway (including the firm’s Zach) to the next committee meeting for a technical briefing before the committee issues a recommendation to the full council.

Committee members emphasized that the committee is the appropriate venue for granular review of drainage-area prioritization, with the recommendation that the committee work with Greenway on scope and then deliver a focused recommendation to council. The staff member said Greenway’s existing drainage data could be reused to accelerate work on the Charles Street project regardless of which firm ultimately executes design.

No formal vote was taken; members agreed to schedule Greenway for the next committee meeting and to continue paperwork and follow-up on the FEMA grant. The committee left the item open for further engineering review and a subsequent recommendation to council.