Florence adopts water, sewer and stormwater master plans and approves $3.4 million subrecipient agreement for Oakland Avenue

The Florence City Council voted to adopt three utility master plans — for water distribution, sewer collection and stormwater — and authorized the city manager to execute a stormwater infrastructure subrecipient agreement that will fund improvements on Oakland Avenue.

City Manager Glenn Moore presented the plans and described them as 20-year guides for capital improvements, permitting and grant applications. "This master plan sets out many projects for us to work on either funding ourselves or receiving grant funding," Moore said. He credited city staff and the engineering firm AECOM for the work.

Council also authorized execution of a subrecipient agreement with the South Carolina Office of Resilience for stormwater infrastructure on Oakland Avenue. Moore said the award was increased by $400,000, bringing the total award for that project to $3,400,000. He described the additional funds as part of a broader effort tying the city's 2021 bond proceeds to other grants: "we've been able to use those monies, and work with other entities to get a total of an additional $14,000,000 worth of grant monies to put towards stormwater projects," he said.

Moore and other staff outlined current and imminent projects funded or under construction, including Cedar McQueen and Pennsylvania Street outfalls; he said work on Oakland Avenue requires a DOT encroachment permit before construction can start. City staff also noted the stormwater master plan was assisted by a $250,000 grant from the South Carolina Office of Resilience and that the master plans are posted on the city's website.

The council approved the three master-plan resolutions (Resolution 2025-29, 2025-30 and 2025-31) and passed Resolution 2025-32 authorizing the city manager to execute the subrecipient agreement for stormwater infrastructure work. Voting on the master-plan resolutions was recorded as "the ayes have it"; the subrecipient agreement and related funding details were described in staff remarks and adopted by motion.

Council members asked staff to post project start and anticipated completion dates to the city's stormwater project web pages so residents can track work timelines. Staff agreed to update the site.

The adopted plans provide planning-level project lists intended to support grant applications and capital budgeting; staff emphasized they are living documents to be used over time as projects move into design and construction.