The Committee of 100 | FYI Archives

In spite of the studies which show that people will move to and come into cities when they are alive and active beyond the 9-5 workday, and in spite of the efforts of many to bring that kind of energy and life to Wilmington, in 2001 City Councilperson Theo Gregory introduced a bill to shut the City down at night. At the time, Wilmington Police Lt. Wright, in testimony before Council, claimed that when businesses and entertainment venues in Philadelphia closed, Philadelphians came to Wilmington and hung out at local venues and made trouble. While the idea that Philadelphia “closed down” and that Philadelphians came to Wilmington for night life, rather than the other way around, was novel, Lt. Wright, though providing no evidence, appeared to actually believe his contention. The Gregory bill failed in 2001.

It has resurfaced. Ordinance 05-050, sponsored by Council President Ted Blunt and Council Members Theo Gregory, Paul Ignudo, and Bud Freel, adds fast food establishments to the businesses originally targeted in Ordinance 01-024 which would be required to close at midnight. While Ord 05-050 exempts restaurants and grocery stores, it includes all convenience stores and gas stations.

The rationale for the Ordinance is an acknowledgment that the Wilmington Police are unable to maintain control of certain properties and so, to solve problems at these particular sites, all such properties throughout the City should be closed. While the goal of protecting certain neighborhoods from unruly citizens is laudable, the unintended consequence is that by passing sweeping legislation that closes entire classes of businesses, it implies that every such business, throughout the City, has a problem. It sends a message that Wilmington is not a safe place to be. Not just particular neighborhoods. All of Wilmington. Such a message will have a detrimental impact on encouraging businesses to locate, in and people to move to, the City.

Ordinance 05-050 sends the message that Wilmington is so unsafe that we have to shut legitimate businesses, that we cannot handle problems via the police so we have to shut businesses. It tells people that if you live in the City–or are considering moving here–you'll have to drive out of the City for convenience-store items or for gas. Ordinance 05-050, in its attempt to address a specific problem in a specific place, tars all of Wilmington with an unsafe label that it doesn't deserve and penalizes legitimate businesses in the process.

Sewer in New Castle County

After taking office in January, New Castle County (NCC) Executive Chris Coons called for a complete review of the County's sewer system, including the expansion plans for the Southern NCC Sewer and the environmental concerns raised by the EPA in Brandywine Hundred (BH).

The Southern New Castle County Sewer System (SNCCSS), as designed under the Gordon Administration, was scheduled to begin construction during the summer of 2005 and, as planned, would have been the largest capital project in the County's history. Because so much had changed since the original Tatman and Lee study which had led to the original plan for sewering Southern New Castle County, including hundreds of acres annexed into Middletown and other municipalities, the Coons Administration contracted with the environmental engineering firm Malcolm Pirnie to review the plan. The study's mandate included reviewing the construction and operational costs, source of income to pay for construction and operational costs, design capacity vs. projected capacity requirements, and environmental impacts, as well as looking at alternatives for providing sewer service to Southern New Castle County.

The Malcolm Pirnie report will be presented to County Council at its October 11th Special Services Committee meeting. Because of the significance of this report, the meeting will be held in Council Chambers. The Administration plans a series of meetings with civic organizations, environmental groups, and stakeholders to ensure that everyone has an opportunity to provide input before making a recommendation to Council, which has final approval of whatever plan emerges from the process.

The sewer issues in Brandywine Hundred are of a different sort. The 420 miles of sewer mains, 160 miles of sewer laterals, 9,600 manholes, and 3 large pump stations represent a quarter of the County's sewers and date back to the 40s, 50s and 60s. While designed to accepted national standards of the time, that included “relief structures” which are now unacceptable. Broken and collapsing pipes, root intrusion and blockages, and leaking pipe joints and manholes have caused severe infiltration of rainwater. In addition, many homes have illegal connections of sump pumps and even downspouts that, along with the infiltration, cause the rate of flow during rainfalls to spike by a 500-fold increase in some locations.

While most of the media attention has been on Wilmington's combined sewer overflow (CSO) problem, the EPA targeted New Castle County for the same problem. Through negotiations, the EPA gave DNREC the authority to require compliance, and DNREC approved the County's CSO Elimination Plan in March 2005. That Plan has three phases, with Phase I requiring that inflow and infiltration reduction, pump station and interceptor expansions, and stormwater elimination be completed by 2014. In Phase II the County must evaluate the effectiveness of Phase I in relation to the City of Wilmington's upgrades and capacity and remedy any shortfalls. Then, depending upon the effectiveness of earlier work, Phase III may call for expansion or upgrade of the City of Wilmington's Treatment Plant.

The biggest issue is the age and deterioration of the sewer infrastructure. At least 30% of the system is in need of immediate rehab due to structural failures or high leakage rates, and so listed at 1st Priority Project Level. There are 90 projects currently underway–45 in North Brandywine Hundred and 44 in South BH. But by the time Phase I is completed, an additional 20% of the system is projected to deteriorate to1st Priority Project level, with 51 additional projects in North BH and 36 in South BH expected. Because DNREC requires “source removal” before allowing any capacity expansion, the focus is on the clearwater reduction program.

The County has smoke-tested every house on the sewer system in Brandywine Hundred and found that 10% of the homes have illegal sump pumps or other illegal connections (approximately 4,000 homes) and 5% of homes have punctured floor drains or leaking basement drains. The County has begun a pilot program in Brandywood in which the County is paying to disconnect illegal connections. Eliminating these illegal connections, along with the infrastructure rehab, is designed to meet the DNREC mandated CSO Elimination Plan requirements of cutting groundwater and rainwater entering the sewer so that system peaks are reduced from 10x to around 4x base flow by 2030. The Administration's goal also includes meeting the Plan requirements in a fiscally responsible manner. The budget for this plan included $26.9 million in FY 2005 and $17.8 million in FY 2006 and projects $12.7 million in FY 2007 and $15.2 million in FY 2007, not including annual inflation.