The Northgate stormwater improvements will include better management of water from SR 19 in the area of the Northgate Plaza, just north of Zelienople, as well as stormwater from the road infrastructure built from a signalized intersection to be completed at the Northgate Plaza entrance to the Township’s Sippel Reservoir Park, where the remaining reservoir will be used as a stormwater feature and fishing pond on Thursday, Jan. 5, 2023. Justin Guido/Butler Eagle

JACKSON TWP — After 2½ years of unprecedented cooperation between 10 municipalities, the Southwest Butler Stormwater Management Group has raised over $5 million to combat regional flooding.

The money, $5,777,867, was awarded through Butler County’s Municipal Infrastructure Program grants.

“It’s a great day,” said the group’s facilitator, Jerry Andree. “Historically, you’ve never seen that kind of investment in stormwater management in your community, so there’s a lot to celebrate.”

The group met Monday afternoon at the Jackson Township municipal building. Participating municipalities include Adams Township, Cranberry Township, Evans City, Forward Township, Harmony, Jackson Township, Lancaster Township, Penn Township, Seven Fields and Zelienople.

“I tip my hat to you guys,” Andree said to the gathered municipalities. “It’s very difficult to get people in a room together — we have a wide range of political viewpoints here — but this was a prudent, collaborative, positive experience, and it has reaped great benefits.”

The funding will benefit 22 stormwater infrastructure projects throughout the 10 municipalities. Funds are matched locally by the communities. The total cost of these projects is $9,717,866.

“The projects — this cooperative effort — were really the second significant thing that was accomplished here,” said Cranberry Township manager Dan Santoro. “The first was the study, performed by HRG (Herbert, Rowland & Grubic) and the consultants, identifying how we all, collectively, could work to reduce downstream flooding.”

After a series of widespread floods in the summer of 2019, the municipalities organized a comprehensive study of the region to better understand and manage this threat. The study was funded jointly by the municipalities and cost $25,000.

“What we ended up with,” said Mark Gordon, Butler County chief of economic development and planning, “was the identification of at least three projects that could be meaningful and make subsequent changes in the municipal areas, relative to stormwater control.”

These studies proved to be the foundation of the group.

“When you look at the watershed — what happened upstream versus what happened downstream — there is a relationship,” Gordon said. “The best way to try to make sense of it is: let’s get everybody to start talking about it together and let’s try to prioritize some projects as a group.”

While the flooding helped bring the group together, it also initially threatened to tear the municipalities apart.

“Obviously emotions would get very high, and there was a lot of finger-pointing at each other about ‘where is the water coming from?’ and ‘what can we do?’” Andree said. “I think it was just getting past those emotions and realizing we’re all in this together. Stormwater does not respect municipal boundaries; it respects watersheds.”

The first meetings for the group were used to build relationships between the municipalities.

“Quite often we did not meet as neighbors, and we didn’t have a relationship,” Andree said. “Well, if you want to go borrow a ladder off of your neighbor, it’s better to get to know your neighbor first, then ask to borrow the ladder.”

As the municipalities have grown together, so too have the group’s ambitions.

“It’s already almost like our council governments,” said Mary Hess, Zelienople Borough Council president. “We’re not going to solve our stormwater issue in the blink of an eye, that’s going to take some time, but I do think there are some other opportunities here.”

The group has already started addressing additional concerns — one of Monday’s meeting topics was the state’s Volunteer Firefighter Incentive Program.

“I could see the group morphing over time into different issues as we go,” said Gregory Such, Harmony Borough Council president. “I think it’s really good to have everyone around the table and talking to each other.”

The unusual cooperation of these 10 municipalities puts the group in a unique position moving forward.

“You get the attention of the federal or state officials — instead of 10 voices coming through the county they really hear one voice, and we’re all on the same page,” Andree said. “We speak with one voice.”

What began as an emergency response to stormwater has become a unified force for change in the county.