Sussex County officials hope new drainage standards will prevent flooding issues in newer residential developments.
Heavy rainstorms have shown the flooding risk some of these developments throughout the county face.
The recently enacted ordinance hopes to address that by introducing drainage standards for lots. It also requires more specific bulk grading plans for sites.
County Engineer Hans Medlarz said new guidelines, such as including just a small slope 10 feet from the building, address a two-fold problem county officials were seeing.
“They were drainage issues on individual properties in lots and there was drainage conveyance issues along roadway swales or backyard swales - that people had drainage issues in a community-wide type approach,” Medlarz said.
Before developers get a certificate of occupancy for a building, they must certify grading meets all design criteria, Medlarz said. Those criteria include showing elevations at the perimeters of their lots and the front of the building.
The ordinance applies to all newly approved subdivisions and residential communities.
It won’t solve issues within developments already built and subdivisions with ongoing construction, though Medlarz said those situations may be looked at on a case-by-case basis.
“Moving forward we should not have any individual lot drainage problems and not have any subdivision drainage problems because we put two things in place - a bulk grading plan and an individual lot grading plan for individual lots,” Medlarz said.
The county has been working on the ordinance for the last couple of years after hearing a number of complaints on drainage in subdivisions. The ordinance was introduced to the public two months ago.