Wayne to work on storm water plan with Pike

By TOM KANE

HONESDALE, PA — The Pike County Commissioners want input from Wayne County.

The reason: there are no county boundaries when it comes to watersheds. So in compliance with the requirements of PA Act 167, the Pike County Commissioners have sent an invitation to the Wayne County Commissioners to participate in Pike’s development of a Storm Water Management Plan. The act, which provides for the regulation of land and water use for flood control and storm water management purposes, imposes shared responsibility between the Department of Environmental Resources, municipalities and counties to enforce rules and regulations regarding flood control and storm water run-off.

“We are looking to have the participation of someone from Wayne County to be on our advisory committee so that any problems could be identified that affected the whole watershed,” said Susan Beecher, director of Pike County Conservation District.

The Wayne County Commissioners replied on Thursday, October 11 that the letter of invitation would be forwarded to the county planning department who will attend the first storm-water meeting on November 14.

Wayne County shares four watersheds with Pike: the Lackawaxen River Watershed, the Delaware River Watershed, the Wallenpaupack Creek Watershed and the Masthope Creek Watershed.

When asked if Wayne would work on the creation of one joint watershed plan for any of the watersheds it shares with Pike, commissioners chair Tony Herzog said that he was uncertain if that would be desirable or necessary since Wayne County shares other watersheds with other neighboring counties.

“We’re sending a representative and we’ll see what our response should be,” Herzog said.

In other board matters, the commissioners approved a request from the Pennsylvania Board of Probation and Parole to allow the direct deposit of state grant funds into the account of the county board of probation and parole.