Rehoboth OKs wastewater permitting
$200,000 task will see completion of impact statement
Rehoboth Beach — The Rehoboth Beach commissioners unanimously approved preparing permits for the city's ocean outfall project and finalizing an environmental impact statement for presentation to the public in January.
The $200,000 task will take the environmental impact statement all the way through its final approval, including incorporating comments from state and federal regulators and citizens, who will see the statement for the first time at a public hearing scheduled for Wednesday, Jan. 18.
The city was required to come up with the environmental impact statement in order to get a loan for the $30 million project from the state’s Clean Water Revolving Fund. While all the money is processed through the state fund, the project will be funded by state and federal sources.
Concurrently, Stearns and Wheler/GHD will begin preparing the permits needed for the outfall.
“There’s some engineering, there’s some drawings, some application forms; it’s developing the submittal that’s submitted to the regulators,” Stearns and Wheler/GHD engineer Rip Copithorn said.
He said the permit applications will be submitted along with the draft environmental impact statement.
“DNREC cannot really act on the permits until there is a record of decision,” Copithorn said.
He said he hopes the final decision on the impact statement will come by May, although the Department of Natural Resources and Environmental Control could take longer if it chooses. Copithorn said he is not anticipating any surprises because the city and Stearns and Wheler/GHD have worked with the regulators throughout the process.
