Commissioners approve funding for stormwater projects

The 2010 Stormwater Management Program approved Thursday, October 29, by the Johnson County Board of Commissioners totals more than $11.3 million, including funding for capital projects in the cities of Shawnee, Spring Hill, Lenexa, and Olathe.

The Board approved the plan unanimously.

Kent Lage, manager of the Urban Services Division of the Johnson County Department of Public Works and Infrastructure, said the 2010 Stormwater Management Program has budgeted $11,310,000 next year, including $7.2 million for seven design/construction projects.

The plan also sets aside $3.4 million for supplementary projects/efforts to support the Stormwater Management Program and funding for other countywide stormwater initiatives. According to Lage, the projects will enable cities to continue flood mitigation and initiate several proactive efforts.

“These efforts will continue to migrate the program focus from the traditional reactive focus only to include a leading-edge proactive focus necessary for the program,” he advised the Board in a briefing sheet.

In the 2010 plan, three stormwater management capital projects are located in the city of Shawnee, including:

• $1,761,000 for storm drainage improvements in the area of 70^th and Flint streets to south of Yager Street;
• $579,750 for a project at 50^th Street and Neiman Road; and,
• $852,000 to improve drainage in the area west of 57^th and Cody streets to 55^th and Monrovia streets.

Two capital projects are in Olathe. The Stormwater Management Program has allotted $1,050,000 for a drainage project near South Brougham Drive and West 147^th Terrace and $1,425,000 for stormwater improvements near 151^st Street and South Quivira Road.

Stormwater improvements at 108^th Street and Pflumm Road in Lenexa will receive $435,904.

The program has earmarked $339,675 to improve drainage at Nichols and Race streets in Spring Hill.

 The 2010 plan includes seven supplementary projects to support the county’s stormwater program and regional and countywide initiatives, requiring approximately $3.4 million in funding. Regional and support projects include maintenance of the county’s stream and rain gauge network that’s part of a flood-warning system; a future countywide or watershed-level study; and other studies and activities.

Johnson County’s annual stormwater program is funded by a 1/10-cent sales tax authorized by the Kansas Legislature in 1988 and approved by the Board of County Commissioners for the purpose of funding stormwater projects. Johnson County was the only county to implement the tax. These funds, dedicated to stormwater management, allow Johnson County’s Stormwater Management Program (SMP) to create a yearly stormwater management plan and provide 75 percent of funding for eligible design and construction projects in Johnson County and the cities.

The Board created the SMP and the Stormwater Management Advisory Council (SMAC) in the early 1990s. SMAC helps coordinate stormwater efforts and advises the Board on stormwater management related issues.

Since its creation, the Stormwater Management Program has provided more than $120 million for stormwater improvements and capital projects in Johnson County in partnership with all cities of the county and in cooperation with other cities in the Kansas City region as part of the regional stormwater system.

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