Stormwater Task Force

City of Falls Church Department of Public Works Stormwater Task Force Minutes: Meeting #3 Date: Thursday, February 20, 2020 Time: 7:00 PM Room: Laurel Room Location: Falls Church City Hall 300 Park Avenue, Falls Church, VA 22046 I. Call to Order The meeting was called to order at 7:00 PM by Mike Domenica, City Liaison to the Task Force II. Attendees Task Force Members: Rolf Anderson, David Deitch, Dave Gustafson, Ellen Heather, Jeff Jardine, Hans Miller, Lauren Pinkus, Matthew Ries City Staff: Andre Prince/CFC Senior Engineer, Mike Domenica/Task Force Liaison for City City Residents: Anna Wood, Dennis Szymanski, Rich Snyder III. Approval of Minutes of Previous Meeting The minutes of the previous meeting were approved without change IV. Staff Reports: 1. Mike Domenica introduced Andre Prince, the new Senior Engineer for the City replacing Alan Dalton. 2. Mike gave a brief update of the status of the stormwater utility rate study being conducted by GKY. He said that the preliminary study had been completed and that GKY would be making a presentation to City staff on the results and preliminary recommendations of the study on February 20, 2020. 3. An updated version of the NOAA Intensity/Duration/Frequency table for this area was provided to the Task Force members. V. Discussion and Decisions 1. Crossman Branch/E. Jefferson flooding - Lauren Pinkus and Mike Domenica gave a summary of their site visit with local residents to Crossman Branch between E. Columbia St. and E. Jefferson St. on February 1. The presentation 1  also included pictures of this segment of Crossman Br. during the February 7, 2020 storm. After comments from a local resident and discussion by the Task Force members, it was agreed by vote to add Crossman Branch to the list of projects being considered. Mike said he would have GKY prepare a project summary sheet for this segment of Crossman Branch. 2. Mike mentioned that he was asked to meet with residents on Midvale Street on Friday, February 21 regarding more frequent flooding of their yards in recent years. Discussion followed regarding the point at which the Task Force needed to terminate consideration of new projects in order to complete its assignment of prioritizing the major projects already before the group in time to justify funding in the 2021 CIP. Due to the City’s budget and CIP schedules, it was agreed that there could be no more projects added at this point, but that a “next round” of flood-prone areas would be planned to address additional stormwater problems. 3. The Task Force members each gave a summary of the information they were able to collect using the questionnaire drafted by Lauren and modified/used by the group in their neighborhoods over the last three weeks. While much helpful information was collected, it seemed clear to the team that there were so many variables influencing experiences of individual homeowners in their neighborhoods that it would be hard to systematically compare the results to allow project prioritization in a meaningful way. At this point Mike suggested an approach to systematizing information that involved a simplified rating scale using five parameters generally included in the questionnaire. It was agreed that the team would collect as much additional information as possible over the next week, summarize the data using the five categories and send the results to Mike who would compile and synthesize results as consistently as possible. 4. Mike mentioned that they would probably have to be another meeting in March to move the process forward to meet City FY2021 schedules. VI. Task Force Members Comments Lauren Pinkus suggested that an outline of what should/could be included in the final report be developed in the near future so that the team would have a framework toward which to work and that key issues and recommendations from our meetings and discussions would not be lost. This suggestion was very favorably received by the team. A very helpful discussion followed in which several suggestion for inclusion in the final report were mentioned including:  Inclusion of Green Infrastructure (GI) in the context of a stormwater management program  Development of a small project grants program by the City 2   Provision by the City of small project on-site technical support for stormwater BMPs to individual homeowners or neighborhood groups  Development of neighborhood watershed associations for stream advocacy and environmental stewardship  How to address flood areas that have require both public vs. private participation  A “clearinghouse” for homeowner information on residential home flood- proofing VII. Next Meeting Dates The next two meetings were scheduled for Thursday, March 5 and Thursday, April 16. As noted above, it was mentioned that an additional meeting in March may be required to meet City CIP schedules in order to have authorized funding for stormwater project implementation on July 1, 2020. [Note that an additional meeting has been scheduled for Thursday, March 12]. VIII. Adjournment The meeting was adjourned at 9:20 PM 3