Poland closer to flood fix thanks to YSU students

By Denise Dick

By DENISE DICK

denise_dick@vindy.com

poland

Plenty of work remains before the village can solve its flooding problem, but efforts of some Youngstown State University civil engineering students moved it a step closer.

Eight students in Professor Hans Tritico’s class were asked by village officials to determine the locations where stormwater dumps in to Yellow Creek.

The work was done at no cost to the village, said Joe Mazur, village council president.

The students identified more than 30 such locations, he said.

“Now we have to find out how big the pipes are,” Mazur said.

Tritico said the students compiled the information so it can be used as part of a computer program. The village’s street department likely will have to do additional work to identify pipe diameter.

“The students provided the dots and now the street department will be connecting the dots,” Tritico said.

The students’ work enables the village to have all of the information on one map, the professor said.

Mazur said the village doesn’t have records of pipes, their age, diameter and where they lead due, in part, to the age of many of the homes.

“There’s no big conclusion right now, it’s just a start,” the council president said.

The ultimate goal is to address the village’s flooding problem.

Last month, village council passed legislation to enact a stormwater utility fee. It calls for a monthly fee of $3.50 for a basic unit of service — about $42 per year.

At the time of its passage, village officials estimated that it would generate about $70,000 annually. That money is expected to start coming in to village coffers in the middle of next year.

The fund into which the fees will go will be used to maintain open-drainage ways, underground sewers and drains and other storm-water-drainage facilities.

The basic unit of service is 2,500 square feet of impervious surface applicable to single-family residences. That equates to one equivalent residential unit (ERU).

Nonresidential properties with impervious surfaces less than or equal to the basic unit of surface equates to two ERUs.

The maximum fee equates to five ERUs.