Hightstown Environmental Commission's Stormwater Management Initiatives

Since successfully bringing a stormwater run-off ordinance to fruition in August, the Hightstown Environmental Commission has made major strides towards alleviating the borough's water pollution and flooding problems.

Since the ordinance passed, Hightstown has been awarded a Sustainable Jersey Small Grant, and the commission has also won the Association of New Jersey Environmental Commissions’ annual Environmental Achievement Award.

“To get this $10,000 grant for Hightstown is quite a feather in our cap,” said Councilwoman Gail Doran, who is council liaison for the Environmental Commission.

She said during last week’s council meeting the commission is one of the most energetic groups of volunteers, and she is proud of their many accomplishments this year.

The succession of achievements began when the Environmental Commission worked with the Hightstown Borough Council and Hightstown Planning Board to pass the “Stormwater Run-off Ordinance” in August.

“Hightstown has a very high water table, people’s basements are getting flooded all the time–I mean, these are just ongoing issues that we have to contend with,” said Environmental Commission Chair Barbara Jones. “So there was definitely a need for something to address stormwater runoff.”

Ordinance 2012-12 amends and supplements chapters of the Borough Code pertaining to stormwater control and development regulation. It allows for the Environmental Commission to review zoning permit applications in a timely fashion before a permit is issued. The commission can recommend solutions uniquely suited to each applicant that would help reduce pollution, save the property owner money, and alleviate flooding.

“What we’ve adopted is probably one of the most comprehensive and restrictive stormwater ordinances in the state,” said Allen Keith LePrevost, executive director at the Hightstown Housing Authority.

According to Jones, however, the suggestions are completely optional and there would be no penalties involved.

“It’s part of an educational–or re-educational–process that, if you pave over your yard, that water has to go somewhere,” Jones said.

“These things are going to become second nature–that’s our hope,” she continued.

Jones said she hopes the ordinance will allow residents to consider alternative construction options. The commission may suggest reducing runoff by using pervious pavement, rain barrels, or rain gardens.

“These are alternatives that are beautiful, and they don’t necessarily have to cost a whole lot of money,” Jones said.

The ordinance, while not retroactive, contains certain triggers for a site review. Any repaving or additions more than 250 sq. ft. or soil disturbances of more than 1,000 sq. ft. trigger the ordinance.

“This is getting people to rethink the consequences of their own behavior,” Jones said.

“It’s getting people re-educated,” added LePrevost.

With the ordinance now in place, the commission wants to demonstrate proven systems that minimize stormwater run-off from an average rainfall event in a central location.

Of the Housing Authority’s land area of 130,680 sq. ft., the total impervious coverage is 62,820 sq. ft., or about 48 percent of the total area. During an average 1-inch rainfall event, about 37,690 gallons of water will flow off the roofs and impervious surfaces where it flows to the Rocky Brook.

It is because of these conditions, coupled with the authority’s central location in town, that the commission settled on the Housing Authority as the ideal host for the project.

“To do a demonstration and educational project following up on this ordinance makes perfect sense,” LePrevost said.

The project includes the installation of rain barrels at strategic locations to retain water and provide irrigation during dry periods; installation of a rain garden to retain and recharge the local aquifer and to beautify the site; and installation of dry wells in areas where rain gardens or rain barrels are not practical.

Each of the three solutions will be clearly displayed with an educational permanent sign, as well as references to the Housing Authority’s and borough’s websites, where the plans, design elements, and costs will be available for download.

The site will provide the public with opportunities to see how rain gardens, rain barrels, and swales work to contain storm water and allow for groundwater recharge, and how residents can incorporate these same solutions on their own properties.

“I think people will begin to realize that the water they restrain and keep within their own property that goes into the aquifer is that much less water that goes into their neighbor’s basement, which means the same courtesy will apply to them,” Jones said.

The commission anticipates the project will be completed by July 2013.

To help fund the more than $22,000 project, the Environmental Commission applied for a Sustainable Jersey Small Grant of $10,000.

Hightstown is one of just ten municipalities in New Jersey to receive the grant at that level, and is one of two municipalities not currently certified by Sustainable Jersey to receive a grant.

The 2012 Sustainable Jersey Small Grants Program funded by the PSEG Foundation provides a total of $200,000 in grants to local governments for sustainability projects. 

Hightstown is currently working on achieving the Sustainable Jersey certification and is applying for bronze level certification. Currently, 378 municipalities, or 67 percent of New Jersey’s towns and cities, have registered to become Sustainable Jersey certified. 

Jones believes the grant award indicates Sustainable Jersey’s faith in the borough’s potential to ultimately become certified.

Because of the commission’s efforts with the Stormwater Run-Off Ordinance and Housing Authority project, Joan McGee of the Stony Brook-Millstone Watershed Association submitted the project to the Association of New Jersey Environmental Commissions for their annual Environmental Achievement Award.

The commission won and was cited as a perfect example of the scope a commission can achieve with enthusiastic volunteers.

Jones believes the uniqueness of the stormwater ordinance also contributed to the commission’s win.

“Sustainability leaves room for humans, and we’re here,” Jones said. “The environment works with us just as we have to work with the environment.”