Stormwater and drainage facilities are not always owned by the local county or city.
Sometimes they’re privately-owned, meaning they are also privately maintained.
In an effort to keep residents safe and facilities working efficiently, James City County is offering some help.
James City County is seeking grant applicants for its Clean Water Heritage Grant program, which gives money to homeowners associations, private individuals, contractors and businesses that want to improve or repair their stormwater and drainage systems in their neighborhoods.
The county called for applications in a news release Wednesday. Applications are due by Sept. 30.
Toni Small, director of the county’s Stormwater and Resource Protection Division, said there is a pool of $250,000 in this year’s budget for neighborhood drainage maintenance grants.
That money will be distributed in smaller sums to various entities and projects: Up to $50,000 per project to owners of neighborhood drainage facilities for repairs, and up to $7,500 in funding for owners to complete repairs to best practice management stormwater facilities, or BMPs.
“A stormwater BMP or best management practice is a stormwater facility used for controlling the quality and quantity of post-construction stormwater runoff,” Small wrote in an email. “The BMP Repair and Maintenance category covers repairs to stormwater management facilities to help maintain the system as it was originally designed.”
Projects that could qualify for grant funding fall under three categories: inventory and inspection grants, repair and maintenance grants and BMP repair and maintenance grants.
Examples of projects in those categories include a video inspection of a pipe system; replacement of crushed or broken pipes and repair of broken concrete ditches; or replacing a riser structure, pipe lining, and repairing an emergency spillway.
The grant program has been in place since fiscal year 2016, which ran from July 1, 2015 to June 30, 2016.
The county can help homeowners’ associations with applying for grants and answering questions. It can also provide advice and technical assistance throughout the process, Small said.
Through the program, grant recipients will need to complete the work within 12 months of executing the grant agreement.
Those who are awarded grants this year will be able to access them in late spring 2020, Small said.