Sharspsburg awarded grant to combat flooding

Sharpsburg has been awarded a $162,000 no-match grant to research how to thwart flooding near Seitz Run.

Residents, particularly in the lower section of Kittanning Pike, are routinely flooded after heavy rains. The money will target ways to alleviate the impact, authorities said.

Mayor Matt Rudzki thanked “everyone who made this grant possible to help us better understand wet weather events and how we can best address mitigation.”

Rudzki began lobbying for the money several years ago.

In 2019, after Seitz Run flooded for the fifth time in about a year, he contacted the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers and U.S. Rep. Conor Lamb’s office to seek funding for a flood plain management study.

O’Hara and Fox Chapel also sought money for a similar study to combat the regional problem.

“In December 2019, Manager Bill Rossey and I met with an environmental planner from the Corps for a site tour of Seitz Run and to discuss options available to the borough,” Rudzki said.

“After over a year and a half of coordinating through the pandemic, we received word that we will receive (the money).”

The study is scheduled to begin in October and run through January 2023.

Specifically, it will determine specific data on obstructions, flood depths, stages and floodwater velocities, the extent, duration and frequency of flooding, and information on natural and cultural flood plain resources.

When the study is completed, the Army Corps will produce a report with recommendations for council.

Earlier this year, O’Hara applied for a grant to the Allegheny County Community Infrastructure and Tourism Fund for stormwater management in the same area. Township Engineer Chuck Steinert said if approved, work at Greenwood Cemetery along Kittanning Pike would alleviate flooding in the lower portion of Seitz Run by retaining and releasing water at a slower rate.