Identify the issues and take action. Often easier said than done but for Harold Weinbrecht, the Mayor of Cary, North Carolina, those words served as guiding principles to finding sustainable solutions that benefitted the residents of his community.
Twenty years ago, the Town of Cary faced a flooding problem. While the Town had established stormwater mitigation ordinances, citizens complained as flood issues persisted. It wasn’t until further investigation from the Town’s staff that the problems were much worse than originally imagined. A remedy would cost the Town hundreds of millions of dollars, which was not doable then. Thus, the Town created a pilot program to repair the community one section at a time.
With an emphasis on revitalizing its downtown, Weinbrecht and the Town identified where the floods were occurring and the linear assets that needed attention if the area was to flourish. Part of the solution was to understand why the Town had these issues in the first place and recognize the age of stormwater and other linear assets in relation to their lifecycles. Through this process, the Town was able to establish an actionable plan to reduce flooding, which resulted in a more attractive community for new business opportunities.
Joining WithersRavenel’s Jon Mills and David Perry, Weinbrecht spoke on the challenges that Cary faced and how other communities can better equip themselves to prevent similar situations from occurring. The presentation, “Asset Management: Stormwater Watershed Master Planning,” was presented to the North Carolina Department of Environmental Quality through the Wow Stormwater Webinar series.
Watch this web event to hear more from Weinbrecht, Mills, and Perry on how to evaluate the criticality of assets, utilize lifecycle planning, and how to have the best budget conversations with elected officials.