County airport neighbors seek remedy for flooding
Changes at Washington County Airport are touted as progress, but at least two neighbors view them as more serious than growing pains.
Robert Champe owns property downhill from the airport in South Franklin Township and Ralph George rents a home from him.
Stormwater runoff and silt are jeopardizing a large pond that is home of several types of fish, George said at the June 6 meeting of the Washington County commissioners.
“There’s no guarantee that’s all going to be fixed,” Champe told commissioners Larry Maggi and Harlan Shober at the meeting. Commissioner Diana Irey Vaughan was absent.
George said he contacted both the state Department of Environmental Protection and the federal Environmental Protection Agency.
“It’s built up to the point where it just pours in,” George said of silt that gets into a pond on Champe’s property. “I’m asking for a complete solution, not just a Band-Aid solution.
A cleanup revealed, George said, 4-by-4-foot chunks of lumber and pieces of trees, presenting the commissioners with an array of photos illustrating the problem. “In my opinion, it’s a travesty what the airport is allowed to be doing,” George said. “They have pretty much destroyed this lake.” He fears a fish kill will occur.
He said of talks with representatives of the county and its redevelopment authority, “They’re falling back on their engineering group. Engineering isn’t going to fix this problem.”
George said DEP has called the situation an “erosion encroachment problem.”
Lauren Fraley, DEP spokeswoman, replied to an email inquiry that April 10 and 19 of this year, the Washington County Conservation District conducted inspections of the Washington County Airport public safety garage construction site in response to complaints.
A DEP engineer visited the site with a representative from the conservation district during the April 10 inspection.
“Violations were noted during both inspections. With respect to the complainant’s property, DEP observed that the lake was receiving sediment from other areas, but found no evidence that sediment was coming from the airport construction site.
“Permits for the airport project were reviewed and issued by the Washington County Conservation District.”
George said the DEP’s April visits coincided with relatively dry weather.
A DEP representative again came Tuesday to see George after rain pummeled the area over the weekend.
“There is a retention pond further up that failed years ago and that’s what is causing this,” George opined Wednesday.
With additional projects in the works, George fears additional paving and the roofs of new buildings will send more water toward Route 18.
“God only knows what kind of a mess there’s going to be,” he said.
William McGowen, executive director of Washington County Redevelopment Authority, which operates the airport, pointed to plans for four airport projects where provisions are being made to address rainfall in the long term.
A storm water pond will be constructed below the county’s new public safety garage, and drainage pipes will be installed along Airport Road.
In conjunction with the south side development grant, the county anticipates receiving one from the state Bureau of Aviation, which will result in another retention pond.
The final project, McGowen said, will mean diverting water from Champe’s pond.