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Logan hears ISC renewal pitch

The council of governments responsible for cleaning up stormwater in Blair County’s urbanized area under increasingly strict federal regulations will go out of existence at the end of this year unless at least some of the 11 participating municipalities agree to renew the organization’s charter.

In order to learn the fate of the Intergovernmental Stormwater Committee — and to convince the municipalities it would be foolish to try to meet their obligations alone — ISC leaders will go before each of the municipal governing bodies over the next few months.

On Thursday, ISC coordinator Chelsey Ergler and consulting engineer Teddie Kreitz spoke to Logan Township supervisors and departed without much cause for worry.

Logan has always been progressive in its attitude toward intermunicipal cooperation, said Chairman Jim Patterson, citing its participation in organizations like the Intermunicipal Relations Committee, the Central Blair Recreation and Parks Committee and AMED.

Stormwater cleanup is a “great cause,” and the municipalities should stick together, Patterson said.

Collectively, the committee municipalities are responsible for removing

1.4 million pounds of sediment a year from area streams by the end of their

state Department of Environmental Protection permits, in accord with a Pollution Reduction Plan created by an ISC consultant, Ergler told the supervisors.

The estimated cost is

$6.2 million, Ergler said.

Based on a formula that takes into account each municipality’s impervious area, length of impaired streams and population, Logan will be responsible for $1.1 million of that cost over the permit period, officials have said.

The shares of the other municipalities vary from Blair County’s $35,000 to Altoona’s $2.3 million, officials have said.

The costs may seem high, but the difficulties connected with breaking away would outweigh those costs, according to Ergler.

Municipalities that break away would be responsible for their own pollution reduction plans, she said.

They could be hard to create, if only for lack of feasible projects within their borders, officials have said.

Altoona, for example, lacks the “real estate” for projects that would allow it to get rid of its share of sediment, city Public Works Director Nate Kissell said at a recent meeting.

As members of the committee, municipalities get full credit for any reductions made anywhere in

the committee’s territory, Ergler said.

Developing a single-municipality pollution reduction plan would costbetween $20,000 and $50,000 and would mean potentially long waits for DEP approval, which could mean there would be little time for design and execution of projects before permits expire in 2023, she said.

Failure to meet the reduction goals would put the municipality in violation — although it’s not clear what the penalties would be, Ergler said.

None of the Logan supervisors recommended breaking away.

But more than one complained about the cost of meeting the requirements.

The ISC has been applying for grants, but it’s unlikely that grants will cover all the costs, Ergler said.

It’s an unfunded mandate, and the money to pay for whatever isn’t covered by grants will probably need to come from the “tax base,” Patterson said.

The local burden is already high, and getting higher, with increases from the county and the Altoona Area School District, said Supervisor Joe Metzgar.

Increasing township taxes to pay for stormwater projects should only be done as a “last resort,” Metzgar said.

The state has given second-class townships like Logan the power to assess stormwater fees, Ergler said. Those fees are typically based on a property’s impervious area.

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