Focus on stormwater runoff
will develop Potter Co. management plan

Potter County has hired a consultant to develop a stormwater management plan.

Hubbell, Roth & Clark Inc.

HRC), a 90-year-old engineering firm with roots in Detroit, was selected by the Potter County Planning Commission to develop Phase One of the county's plan. HRC will be paid $9,000. Another firm, L. Robert Kimball and Associates of State College, was asking $9,100.

HRC specializes in environmental engineering, including regulatory, permitting and design issues. The company was recommended by interim Potter County Planning Director Charlotte Dietrich and by PCPC members Mitch DeLong, John Nordquist and Marshall Hamilton, who formed a committee working on the stormwater management issue.

The full Planning Commission accepted the committee's recommendation at Tuesday's monthly meeting.

In other business, PCPC members heard from Dietrich that arrangements are being made for the 2010 U.S. Census.

"It's very important that every person be counted," she emphasized. "It will cost the county and municipalities about $10,000 for every person not counted."

Dietrich said she'll be contacting township and borough secretaries to encourage compliance. She added that only six municipal officials attended an informational session held recently on census responsibilities.

DeLong reported on recent meetings of the committee appointed to investigate adoption of a countywide zoning ordinance. Other committee members include Nordquist and Hamilton, as well as private citizens Ken Comstock, David Saulter, Karen Stann and Roger Leight.

Members have been meeting since May. PCPC voted to pay $50 to cover a video link for a land use expert to address the committee at its October meeting.

In other business, PCPC:

• heard that plans for a new Amish school in Bingham Township have been delayed by sewage permit requirements. The project will not include any property subdivision.

• passed an amendment to the Potter County Subdivision and Land Development Ordinance requiring that new self-storage units in the county meet health, safety and landscaping standards.

• approved a two-lot subdivision by Dean Long in Wharton Township, creating separate parcels of four acres and six acres.

• approved a three-lot subdivision requested by Charles Nelson in Bingham Township.

• acknowledged a resolution from the Potter County Assn. of Township Officials requesting a two-year moratorium on permits for the construction of wind turbines for generation of electricity. PCPC Chair Wanda Shirk said the commission is not the proper organization to consider the moratorium (see separate story on page one).

• approved changes in road standards for subdivisions, requiring a width of at least 28 feet and a surface of four or more inches of compacted gray shale.