CRANBERRY TWP — Township officials are planning to correct a stormwater drainage problem that has caused occasional flooding for residents of Cranberry Estates for more than 10 years.

Thursday night the township supervisors voted to approve a $7,000 engineering contract with PVE Sheffler to design stormwater sewer enhancements for McDonald and Clearbrook drives.

Jason Kratsas, township director of engineering and environmental services, said the plan is to dig up and replace about 1,000 feet of pipes that run through the backyards of several houses.

After doing an investigation, staff discovered that there were several “pinch points” in the system where water was not flowing properly, Kratsas said.

“Our storm sewers were effectively turning into spouts,” he said.

The occasional flooding there also would potentially affect the Clearbrook housing development, because water drains downhill from Cranberry Estates toward Brush Creek, he said.

They also looked at potentially relocating those lines closer to Freedom Road, but decided that plan would be more costly and would require a lengthy process of acquiring new rights of way from multiple property owners, he said.

Officials are planning to award the project to a contractor in 2017 and they anticipate a cost of about $150,000, he said.

Supervisor Bruce Hezlep said he had responded with the fire department to that road for flooding and heard from residents who were concerned about possible damage to their houses.

Peggy Zielonka, a longtime resident of McDonald Drive, said in an interview that the first major flooding event on the road was in 2004 when the region was hit with heavy rains after Hurricane Ivan.

Since then, the road has occasionally had flooding, affecting the yards of about four or five houses and forcing the road to be closed until the water drains, she said.