Vote scheduled on ocean outfall
Rehoboth to vote on outfall alignment
Rehoboth Beach Mayor Sam Cooper announced at the commissioners’ Jan. 9 meeting that engineer Rip Copithorn of Stearns and Wheler/GHD would give a presentation at the commissioners’ Friday, Jan. 20 meeting on the force main alignment of the city’s ocean outfall.
The force main is the pipe that would take treated wastewater from the city’s wastewater treatment plant to the outfall 6,000 feet into the ocean. Cooper said the best route has been to take the pipe down State Road across Rehoboth Avenue to Henlopen Avenue and from there leading out into the ocean. He said Copithorn would take questions on the alignment with a vote by the commissioners to follow.
In addition, the city has handed in its draft environmental impact statement to the Department of Natural Resources and Environmental Control, Cooper said. A public hearing will be held on the statement, which was required of the city to receive state funding for the outfall.
The targeted hearing date on the statement was scheduled for Wednesday, Jan. 18, but Cooper said the state wanted 30 days to review it. He said the city wanted to make the statement available to the public two weeks before a hearing. A formal hearing date has not been announced yet.
