Robbinsville – The Town of Robbinsville will be applying for a grant to develop a stormwater management master plan to help solve flooding within town limits.
Grant money is available through the American Rescue Plan Act of 2021, the COVID-19 relief law.
Joel Storrow – a professional engineer with McGill Associates who advises the Board of Alderman on infrastructure needs and projects – said the plan can help the town fix ineffective and inoperative parts of its stormwater management system.
Storrow said Robbinsville is a good candidate for grant funds because of its poverty rate and high unemployment rate. Up to $400,000 could be available to the town.
“I’m pretty sure you’ll get funding,” Storrow said,
Areas of town like Ford Street, parts of Rodney Orr Bypass and Atoah Street experience high water during heavy storms because of poor stormwater drainage.
“It’s been a problem,” said Alderman Brian Johnson.
A master plan would enable the town to inventory its storm drains, which in turn can be used to apply for other grants to pay for corrective construction.
Although it could cost up to $2,500 to apply for grant, the grant would pay the full cost of developing the plan without any match from the town, Storrow told the Board of Aldermen at its Aug. 3 meeting.
In another infrastructure issue, the town has $300,000 in funds to fix problems with town wells that it needs to spend or it will lose the money. Storrow said the money can probably pay for a new well off Long Creek Road and go a long way toward paying for a new automated water meter system for town residents.
Storrow said another well would increase the town’s water capacity, which could help the town attract new industry and residents.
Chadd Carpenter, the town’s maintenance supervisor, said automated water meters can help avoid wasted water, which would reduce treatment costs at the water treatment plant by detecting leaks.
“The less water we make, the more money we save,” he said.
There won’t be enough money to bring the town’s Tallulah Creek water treatment plant back online, however.
The town has another $1.1 million at its disposal, but that money is earmarked to fix retaining walls along Main Street and can’t be used for anything else.
Other news and notes
* Mark Ferguson, a retired Ingles store manager, was picked to fill a vacancy on the Robbinsville Tourism Authority board left when Seth Mullinax left the board in late June.
* The board voted to hold a public hearing to help it decide whether to grant an easement to the Graham County Historical Association. The association has asked the town for an easement along Snider Hill to improve handicap accessibility to the old Snider Store, which is the future Graham County Museum and Heritage Center. Handicap access is required by the Americans with Disabilities Act.
The town can grant easements, though, under or across any city property or the right of way of any public street or alley that is not a part of the state highway system. Term of the easement would remain as long as the building is occupied by the Graham County Historical Association.
A map of the proposed easement is on display at Town Hall on East Main Street in Robbinsville. The public hearing is scheduled to be held at the next Board of Aldermen meeting at 1 p.m. Wednesday, Sept. 7. A decision is expected at that meeting.
* Town workers will have to move a fence around the town water tank near the Junaluska Memorial Site after it was discovered that the fence was encroaching on a neighbor’s property. Work had already been done on the fence for the same reason, but some of the fence is still encroaching and will have to be corrected.