City won’t handle private property flooding problems

Stormwater bills will be on the way for Peachtree City residents if the City Council OKs the creation of a utility to handle stormwater drainage problems and maintenance.

For single-family detached residences, the bills will range from $2.69 to $6 a month depending on the size of the home, driveway and other impervious area. Attached homes will be charged $1.85 per month, unless the subdivision has privately-owned streets, in which case charges for the street’s surface area will be split among all homeowners.

Separate fees will be assessed for commercial structures, schools and even churches. For example, the Wal-Mart store will be charged $614 a month and McIntosh High School will be charged $553. The much smaller Ruby Tuesday restaurant would only be assessed $43 a month.

Those figures do not include “credits” that can be calculated to account for on-site stormwater detention and other factors.

The city plans to use a private company to send and collect the stormwater bills; the first bills are expected to be sent in April.

The utility will address recurring flood problems (though not those on privately-owned property), drainage system maintenance, compliance with state and federal regulations and surface water quality. The work will also encompass new development of vacant land and redevelopment of improved property.

The city will either seek a revenue bond to raise $3 million for capital projects or use a loan from the Georgia Environmental Facilities Authority to secure the funds, officials said. The city will also take out a loan for equipment, which is estimated to cost $650,000 at the outset.

The total stormwater program cost for the next three years is between $1 million and $1.3 million each year.

The program will be staffed by two three-man crews who will likely be under the umbrella of the city’s public works department.

Capital improvement projects will vary from the replacement of culverts, which are drain pipes that divert stormwater under roads, to the replacement of old storm drain pipes. The city will be responsible for reviewing private stormwater systems and insuring that regulations are followed. City crews will also be at the ready for emergency response should any part of the city’s stormwater drainage system fail.

The program also includes periodic inspections of storm drain infrastructure to make sure all facets of a particular development are being maintained properly. Properties not appropriately maintained can be written up as a public nuisance so the case can be handled by the city’s municipal court, and if such a declaration is awarded by the court, the city can go onto the property to do the rehab work and then charge the property owner for those stormwater improvements.

Creating a utility to fund stormwater improvements is viewed by officials as superior to using the city’s general fund because in the latter case, stormwater projects would compete for funding with various other projects and thus could be delayed or go undone.

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