The Montgomery County Economic Development Authority approved $8,500 to hire H and P to perform hydraulic modeling to assess whether existing water distribution can provide adequate fire suppression to businesses in the Ellis and Lafayette industrial park.

A staff member explained the context: during hurricane Helene the county shut off water, scrubbed tanks and returned them to service; affected tenants in Nelson and Lafayette Industrial Park lost fire suppression service and could not rely on temporary restroom facilities in place of fire protection. The staff member said the modeling will test hydrants on Gardner Street and at one other location (exact second street not specified in the transcript) to determine whether additional options exist to restore or augment fire suppression capacity.

Brenda, a staff member who worked with the companies in the industrial park, told the board the tests will show “whether or not if they do this, that the next time a problem like this occurs, that they would have the available water that that they need.”

Board members approved the $8,500 expenditure on a motion and second and a voice vote. Staff said the modeling will be funded from the EDA reserve, which staff described as having a balance of more than $300,000. The staff member noted that if preliminary modeling is unfavorable, the study will stop and staff will consider alternate options to provide fire suppression to tenants.

Staff also flagged a federal Economic Development Administration (EDA) planning and infrastructure grant that might provide matching funds for resilience-related planning and infrastructure projects; staff said they will circulate details of that grant to the board for consideration.

Less critical details: staff indicated the industrial park’s current full service is supplied via a 12-inch water line coming down the mountain and that tenants affected include Delta North and Delta Clark phases 1 and 2.