The Clearwater City Council is looking at the possibility of developing a stormwater plan for a section of land along Co. Rd. 75.

 

At the November council meeting, Engineer Joe Pelawa from Bolton & Menk told the council there is a pending issue with stormwater drainage on the property southeast of the Clearwater Travel Plaza.

 

Pelawa said he and city staff met Oct. 30 with representatives who are looking to develop the property just south of the Travel Plaza. The development would have expansive paved, impervious surfaces that generate large amounts of surface water runoff.

 

He said that parcel and the larger one to the south have no current method to capture stormwater.

 

“It’s part of the city’s wellhead protection area, upstream of where the city draws its water,” he told the council. “It encompasses the area south of the Travel Plaza and across the Interstate.”

 

Stormwater can’t be drained into the wellhead protection area because it can leach into the soil and pollute groundwater, which can eventually contaminate the city well.

 

Pelawa said runoff from the proposed development could include salt, oil, fuel and de-icing chemicals.

 

“Given the types of soils in Clearwater, they are highly vulnerable to pollution percolating into the groundwater,” he said, “that could enter the drinking water system.”

 

Currently, surface water from the Travel Plaza, Shorty Street and Heaton Blvd. drains in to a pond to the south. But Pelawa said that pond is only designed to handle the existing water, not additional runoff. And, he said, realistically, that pond shouldn’t be there because it’s also in the wellhead protection area.

 

Pelawa said if the city doesn’t have a plan, the developer will need to find a way to drain the stormwater.

 

“They’re going to have to figure out something,” he said.  “Right now they have no solutions.”

 

Pelawa said they did some brainstorming about possible options, including a containment device where water can be pumped to another location, or allowing stormwater to be dumped into the sanitary sewer. Both those options would create additional costs for the city down the road.

 

The best solution, he said, was to run a stormwater pipe along Co. Rd. 75 to the southeast, where it can drain into an infiltration pond outside the wellhead protection area. That option has already been discussed with Wright County. The estimated cost of the project, which includes 4,000 feet of trunk storm pipe and discharge treatment facilities is close to $1 million.

 

Mayor Pete Edmonson asked what the city’s role would be.

 

“If the city wants that land to develop, they’ll have to be a player in the game,” said Administrator Kevin Kress, “or its probably going to take a long time for either one of those parcels to develop.”

 

Pelawa said one way to spread the cost would be to create a stormwater district where benefitting properties would be assessed based on the amount of stormwater they generate.

 

He said there may also be agencies, like the MPCA, that have grants or other types of funding mechanisms.

 

The council agreed there should be some type of plan in place and  Pelawa to develop options and investigate funding opportunities.