Borough staff told the Narberth Borough Infrastructure Committee on March 25 that a recent survey has put the stormwater bump-out project on track: draft plans are expected for the April meeting, final plans in May and contract specifications ready for bid by early June.

The work is part of the borough's effort to meet Pennsylvania Department of Environmental Protection (DEP) MS4 pollutant-reduction (PRP) requirements. "These bump outs will help filter out sediment out of the water before it runs downstream and into the streams and waterways," a borough staff member said. The borough has installed four bump-outs to date and staff said the overall plan calls for roughly 20 across the borough.

Why it matters: DEP requires municipalities operating under MS4 permits to reduce sediment and other pollutants that reach streams. Bump-outs are one of several stormwater tools the borough is using; staff said other planned facilities include rain gardens, parking-lot stormwater systems and a riparian system along Haverford Avenue.

Residents at the meeting questioned how new bump-outs were selected and whether placing an additional unit above an existing Conway Avenue bump-out would meaningfully add pollutant-reduction credit. Tom Henry, a Conway Avenue resident, asked for calculations comparing sediment reduction and flow changes between the existing Windsor-area bump-out and the proposed Conway Avenue location, saying: "I watched the storm water flows when we had the heavy rains... I'm unable to visualize why that all is really needed if the one at Windsor was designed properly to catch the drainage area above Windsor." Staff responded that drainage areas and roadway grading can split flows and that the proposed Conway location would capture some new drainage area even though some overlap exists.

Maylene Gallagher, a Grayling Avenue resident, pressed borough staff about parking effects on her short, heavily used block, saying the streets routinely operate at "day and night capacity" and asking why two bump-outs were proposed on one block. Staff said they try to limit bump-outs to about 40 feet maximum to reduce parking loss and estimated each bump-out would remove about two to three parking spaces; they also said grant funding options exist for some streets and that the locations were chosen to maximize pollutant-reduction credit under DEP calculations.

Committee direction and next steps: Committee members asked staff to revisit siting alternatives and to report back to borough coordinator Maggie (first name provided in the meeting) before the next meeting so the design team can consider alternatives without delaying the overall schedule. Staff said they would circulate survey and plan materials to affected residents and the committee.

At the meeting staff reiterated that some candidate sites on the borough's south side offer less pollutant-reduction credit per bump-out than the proposed north-side locations; staff said they prioritized locations that provide "the biggest bang for our buck" given limited grant and local funds. Staff also noted some locations qualify for low-volume-road grant programs but cautioned that grant coverage for the current round is not guaranteed; previous bump-outs were covered at about a 95% grant rate, staff said.

The committee did not take a formal vote on the sites; committee members instructed staff to refine the plan and return with calculations and a map. Residents asked that the borough consider placing bump-outs where there are existing no-parking zones or other locations that would avoid removing curbside parking.

Ending: Staff said a draft plan of the bump-outs will be ready for the April meeting and final plan sets are scheduled for May; bid documents are expected to be prepared in time for an early-June public procurement.