A set of bonds totaling $650,000 to maintain stormwater mitigation projects and sidewalk improvements were approved by Southold Town Board last week.
A $250,000 bond will finance stormwater mitigation improvements in the township, including material purchases, drainage system installations and contractor costs when needed.
“A lot of focus is placed on eliminating the runoff that goes into our water bodies by way of outfall pipes, which we’re actively trying to remove around town,” Southold Highway Department Superintendent Dan Goodwin said. “It goes towards … projects that will help us remove those systems and replace them with the recharge pipe system, as well as just putting in traditional recharge systems.”
In the past, Southold Town Supervisor Al Krupski said roads were designed to drain water runoff into local creeks and bays. When the Department of Environmental Conservation enforced national shellfish sanitation standards in the 1980s, shellfish beds were closed down for harvest because of contamination from outfalls.
Recharge wells allow for stormwater to be pumped into underground aquifers and mitigate the chance of contamination in nearby bodies of water.
“Some of the drainage work, in general, also relates to traffic safety,” Mr. Krupski said. “Because if you get a half an inch of rain and you get a big puddle halfway across the road, it’s a problem.”
Low-lying areas in the town and areas that have a large amount of underground utility infrastructure create difficulties for drainage structure installation, Mr. Goodwin said. Many drainage structures in town are from the 1950s and 1960s, with replacements added as years progressed.
“It makes a big difference in surface water quality, aquifer recharge and of course traffic safety,” Mr. Krupski said of the stormwater mitigation improvements.
A separate $400,000 bond will sponsor sidewalk improvements in Greenport and Mattituck, Mr. Goodwin said.
“The thing with that is we kind of need to tie when we’re paving roads that have sidewalks alongside them. We need to make sure that the sidewalks are [Americans with Disabilities Act] compliant,” Mr. Goodwin said. “So a lot of that money is used to bring the sidewalks into compliance in areas when we’re paving roads.”
The majority of the bond money will be used for sidewalk replacement that is contracted from companies. Any smaller repair work is typically done “in house” by the highway department, Mr. Goodwin said.