PENDLETON — Pendleton took a significant step forward in plans to address problems with its stormwater system, first by approving a new fee to fund future projects, and second by approving a bid for one such project expected to start in spring.
The town council voted 5-0 to approve a stormwater ordinance that establishes a new monthly fee for local property owners to fund future stormwater projects.
“This is a big move on the town’s part. It really needs to be done,” Town Council President Chet Babb said, crediting town manager Scott Reske, the town’s stormwater board and others for moving things along.
The fees will cost most homeowners $12 per month, with higher charges for certain commercial and industrial properties and a discounted rate for government entities and churches.
During the Feb. 11 meeting, the council suspended regular rules so it could conduct the required two readings in one night, with the goal to start assessing the fee in March.
“We’ve got a definite timeline to get things done on stormwater, to get it to a certain point where we need to get,” Babb said.
The fee will be collected twice per year with property taxes. The first charges should appear on May’s property tax bill and likely will include fees for March, April and May, Reske said.
During the meeting, Reske, who has been working to address a variety of stormwater issues in town since he was hired last summer, pointed to fee options developed by consultants Baker Tilly; some options included a lower fee and others were higher.
“Had we gone any lower, we would not have had any money to bond, all we could do is keep doing spot maintenance and spot repairs, and we’d probably never ever get ahead of the situation that we’re under, which is almost every major storm line in town has collapsed over the years and some of them require some major reconstruction,” Reske said.
“There’s a definite plan of which way we’re going to go, where we’re going to start at,” Rabb said. “There’s a definite timeline to get all of this done,” Babb said.
Water Street project
On a related issue, the town accepted a bid of $466,621 from DC Construction Services Inc. of Indianapolis to install new stormwater lines and more along part of Water Street.
“Water Street will be repaving, putting in sidewalks basically from Pendleton Avenue to East Street,” Reske said.
It will include new curbs and gutters, he said.
“And then, most importantly, putting in a new storm line that’ll take up that flooding that basically happens when anyone cries in this town.”
The storm line will run along Water Street and head north through the park to an existing line that empties into Fall Creek.
A sidewalk heading north from Water Street into the park also is included.
“The other thing we’ll have that’s new — we have to sort of get used to this as a town — from now on when we put in a storm line, we’re going to run a lateral to the property line (of nearby homes) so that people can hook up their sump pumps, gutters and yard drains,” Reske said.
The Water Street project is being funded with about $350,000 of state Community Crossings grant funds and $240,000 of town funds (about $116,000 of which is the town’s matching funds for the grant, with the rest for project engineering, which is ineligible for the grant).
The town is has borrowed almost $400,000 from its electric department to help pay its share of the stormwater project on Water Street and for another project for which the town has applied for additional Community Crossings funds.
That project will involve an area around Franklin Street from Taylor to State streets, and State Street between Franklin and Adams, which will include the paving of State Street west to the Fall Creek bridge (near the American Legion).
The town will use proceeds from its new stormwater fee to pay back the funds borrowed from the electric department.
Work on the Water Street project is expected to start in early spring, Reske said.
It’s hoped the Franklin Street project can be completed this year, Reske said.
Another major project is planned for an area around Elm Street between Main Street and Pendleton Avenue. This project is likely to occur in 2022, he said.

At a glance
How the new Pendleton stormwater fee works
The stormwater fee is based on the square footage of impermeable surface area, such as roofs and parking lots, Pendleton town manager Scott Reske said.
In Pendleton, it was determined the average residential property has 2,300 square feet of such surface area.
That average established a unit of measure called Equivalent Residential Units (ERUs).
The town ordinance rates residential properties in Pendleton at one ERU.
“If it’s a residential home, and it’s classified for tax purposes as a residence, then it’s automatically one ERU — no more, no less,” Reske said.
After a rate study, the town chose a rate of $12 per ERU per month, which means residential properties are subject to a $12 monthly charge.
Other properties, based on their square footage of impermeable surface area, receive an ERU rating of one, two or more.
A business that is rated at two ERUs would pay two times the rate per month, or $24 per month.
There is a discount for churches and government entities.