With support from the Maryland Department of the Environment, in this project:
-Engineering Students from the A. J. Clark School of Engineering at the University of Maryland at College Park conducted field investigations to confirm the location and sizes of the existing stormwater system structures and pipes. The students collected the data in order to develop a Master Stormwater Plan, ultimately to be used in the administration of the Town’s Stormwater Management Ordinance and for use in the future development of a stormwater capital maintenance budget and plan.
-Robert Rauch of the engineering firm Rauch and Associates supervised the students and was the engineer of record for the Stormwater Master Plan and the mapping of the stormwater drainage areas.
-The Environmental Finance Center (EFC) sought to use a foundation of engineering along with geographic information analysis and financial analysis, to gather, organize, and synthesize data about stormwater in the Town of Federalsburg, as well as provide the Town with recommendations and a basis with which to make informed decisions about project planning and resource allocation in the future.
Federalsburg has a long and proud history. The Town was named for the Federalist Party, which met in the Town in 1821, and the Town was incorporated in 1823. In 1868, the Seaford and Cambridge Division of the Pennsylvania Railroad was opened for traffic and marked a new era for Federalsburg, as the railroad, with its refrigeration accommodation, made urban markets accessible and spurred industrial and warehouse facilities to locate in the Town. To this day, production is an important component of the Federalsburg economy, with companies such as Solo Cup, Jack and Jill Ice Cream, and Stove Top Stuffing all calling the Town home.
However, this history of industrialization and the subsequent decline of industrial facilities and infrastructure assets pose unique and difficult challenges in addressing stormwater issues for a Town the size of Federalsburg with limited resources. But the history and expertise located in Federalsburg also poses an unique opportunity for stormwater management to be a catalyst for urban redevelopment through the use of engineering, leveraging the intellectual and entrepreneurial “problem solving” spirit, and by using informed decision making to allocate resources to invest in stormwater and improve water quality in a way that provides a foundation on which to build and serve as a catalyst for redevelopment and revitalization.
An important first step in this process of stormwater management is the development of an inventory of the existing stormwater infrastructure. With such an inventory along with engineered data and plans, the Town of Federalsburg can then make informed decisions and allocate resources in the planning of future projects.
The documents below encompass the reports and engineering products developed in the project by the students, Rauch Engineering, and EFC.