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Lexington’s Public Works Department has been awarded a $211,263 Stormwater Local Assistance Fund Grant from the Virginia Department of Environmental Quality that will be put toward renovating the city’s stormwater retention basin at the bottom of White Street next to Woods Creek.
“The basin is still functional at a certain level, but it can be improved dramatically,” Lexington City Manager Jim Halasz told City Council when announcing the grant at Council’s regular business meeting on Jan. 18, adding that the funds from the grant would “really allow us to make that project happen.”
The current retention basin was installed two decades ago and is in need of upgrades to both its size and its filtration system. The city’s stormwater system empties into the basin where it is slowly filtered of nitrogen, phosphorous and other contaminants before being drained into Woods Creek, which feeds into the Maury River and then into the James.
“It was a good attempt 20 years ago when it was first looked at and something was done … and the design standards weren’t as rigorous as they’ve become over time when you go to do a retention or detention pond,” Lexington Public Works Director Patrick Madigan told The News-Gazette. “The idea is that we want it to drain and be safe and not be something deep that holds the stormwater for long periods of time, but it will collect it and filter it and … what’s being released into the creek has been filtered somewhat.”
The plan for the project is to enlarge the current basin based on the city’s more recent stormwater estimates and to upgrade the filtration system to allow for better filtration of the water before it is added into the state’s waterways.
The preliminary estimates for the construction of the new basin and the connection into the city’s stormwater system at White Street, which were included in the application for the grant, are $181,052, with an additional $100,632 in estimated nonconstruction related costs for a total estimate of $281,684 for the project.
The next step in the process is to submit a detailed plan to the DEQ for review within the next two years. Once the DEQ has approved the project, it and the city will sign a funding agreement. The city will front the costs for work done on the project and submit regular reports to the DEQ for reimbursement up to $211,263, a reimbursement of about three-quarters of the costs based on the preliminary estimates.
“At the end of the day, once all the accounting is reconciled and we get reimbursed, and if everything went exactly to that estimate, then in theory, the city of Lexington contributed $70,000, rest came from state/federal government,” Madigan said. “We try to do our best to gauge what the costs will be.”
In total, the DEQ awarded more than $29 million in Stormwater Local Assistance Fund Grants for over 25 projects for FY 2024.
