PORT CARBON - One way to prevent flooding at Mill Creek in the borough may be to build up the walls alongside it, Andy Palokas, borough councilman, said Monday.
"Maybe we could add two feet to the wall from one end of town to the other, all along the creek on both sides," Palokas said, as he stood along the rock wall bordering the creek near the Pottsville Street Bridge and used a yard stick to figure out how high that would be.
The borough is looking for options and is planning to apply for state funds for a proper engineering study. Meanwhile, council is hoping for recommendations from representatives of the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, who visited the borough in July.
The Flood of 2006, which caused hundreds of thousands of dollars in damages, still haunts borough officials. Palokas has memories of Mill Creek flooding its banks and water rushing onto Pottsville Street, over the railroad tracks, onto Commerce Street and into homes.
There are occasional close calls. Twice in 2012, rains filled the creek, bringing the water level "two to three inches from the top," Palokas said.
The borough is planning to apply for funds through the state's Growing Greener program, borough engineer James S. Tohill of Alfred Benesch & Co., Pottsville, said Monday.
The application submission deadline will be in April, Tohill said.
Tohill wasn't sure what an engineering study would cost. "It all depends on what we need to look into. It's hard to say until we narrow down a scope," Tohill said.
"Grant applicants are encouraged to submit a cost estimate for a project or request a certain amount of dollars as part of Growing Greener application, then the DEP and other state agencies would determine how much money the borough is eligible for," Colleen Connolly, state Department of Environmental Protection community relations coordinator, Wilkes-Barre, said Tuesday. "Growing Greener grants occasionally involve a matching formula, but not always. That is determined on a case-by-case basis, so in some we do ask the grant recipients to match the amount and others we do not. It is too early in the grant process to determine the formula for how Port Carbon's matching grant money would be determined, that is, assuming the borough is awarded a grant."
Tohill said he would work with borough officials to determine the scope of a proposed study before filling out the grant application.
"For the most part, I think this would fund the study. We'd have to pay 15 percent and they'll pay the balance," Palokas said.
In recent years, the borough has made efforts to find resources to study and fortify the stone walls bordering the creek. In August 2012, members of the council met with state Rep. Neal P. Goodman, D-123, at the Pottsville Street Bridge. On Jan. 7, Goodman and Ed Voigt, chief of Public and Legislative Affairs for the Philadelphia District, U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, met with borough officials to discuss possibilities. On July 11, Tohill and Palokas met with representatives of the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers.
"They came out here to give us some ideas on what we can do and they were supposed to send us a report back," Palokas said.
"We're working on it. I don't have a date when it will be ready. It will be a letter outlining some steps the community can take," Richard Pearsall, spokesman for the Philadelphia District, U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, said Tuesday.
"We asked them for any suggestions to mitigate flooding. They're going to look at the options they're aware of. We gave them what options we thought of and they're supposed to come up with some feasibilities," Tohill said.
The borough would also like to find funds to dredge Mill Creek, Palokas said, adding that over time, rocks in the creek bed flow downstream and form small islands, along with tree branches and litter.
"Keeping this cleaned out would keep a good flow coming through town. We've done that before. It was in the '90s. They'd bring in a front-end loader and build a ramp and go up and down the creek and take it out by truck," Palokas said.
In a related matter, the state is planning to replace the Pottsville Street Bridge. Construction is supposed to begin in 2014, according to Palokas.
Bids for the "Pottsville Street Bridge over Mill Creek Replacement Project" may be opened in January 2014, Sean Brown, safety press officer for the state Department of Transportation, District 5, Allentown, said Tuesday.
"Construction cost are currently estimated at $3 million," Brown said.
Built in 1926, the Pottsville Street Bridge is a concrete T-beam bridge. It will be replaced by a reinforced concrete adjacent box-beam bridge.