Stormwater services staff outline mapping progress, repairs and a five-year plan

Akane Akinola of the county engineering department presented a high-level overview of New Hanover County’s Stormwater Services program and its priorities. "The purpose of today's presentation is to provide a high level overview of what we do in stormwater," Akinola told the Board, outlining complaint response, routine maintenance, engineering design and watershed studies.

Akinola said the program has built a large asset inventory to guide decisions. Staff have mapped roughly 420 miles of open channels—about 60% of the unincorporated county’s open-channel infrastructure—and about 90 miles of pipe systems. "We also maintain critical drainage infrastructure," she said, noting that the team now operates two core streams of work: engineering (design, project management and GIS) and field operations (two crews and technicians).

Commissioners pressed staff on how quickly mapping can finish and what the county needs to accelerate the work. Akinola said the program will return with a specific plan if the board wants the mapping completed in a shorter timeframe. Board members emphasized the importance of completing mapping so the county can identify undersized culverts, collapsed pipes and systemic watershed problems rather than responding case-by-case.

The presentation reviewed the program’s phased fee implementation. Staff said the stormwater utility was established in December 2019, operations began in FY21, and the ERU (equivalent residential unit) rate phased from $5.65/month to $6.14/month for unincorporated properties in FY25; municipal residents in Wilmington and the beach towns do not pay the county ERU. Akinola said the rate was set to support a staffing and capital plan intended to be stable for multiple years.

Commissioners asked about the scale of recent work and funding for emergency repairs. Derek, a field operations representative, described the White Road repair as an in‑house emergency that took four months and roughly $800,000; a sister Courtenay Pines project is currently estimated at about $1.5 million and is being phased into construction with utility relocations this fiscal year. Staff said White Road was initially paid from the general fund and is being repaid by the stormwater utility under the program’s financing plan.

Akinola summarized the five‑year engineering plan: deliver roughly 12–15 capital projects annually within the current ERU and staffing parameters, combine small quick-response and larger multi-year projects, and feed watershed study findings into project prioritization. She closed by saying the program is now fully staffed, is delivering projects and is building a pipeline of shovel-ready work.

What’s next: staff will return with more granular estimates if the board wants an accelerated mapping timeline, and the board asked for follow-up information about what would be required to finish mapping within a specific multi-year target.