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Chester County Press

Eagle Scout project helps the environment in Franklin Township

05/02/2016 10:20AM ● By J. Chambless

Local Scout Nick Dinsmore with the completed rain garden project.

By John Chambless
Staff Writer

With the help of some local donors and plenty of volunteer help, Nick Dinsmore completed a big part of his Eagle Scout qualification on April 30 by installing a rain garden near the Franklin Township Building.


The volunteers who installed the new rain garden on April 30.

 Franklin Township Board of Supervisors chairman John Auerbach, who helped with the rain garden installation, said, “Several years ago, the Pennsylvania Department of Environmental Protection required that home improvements and new construction that create an impervious surface also install an appropriately sized system to receive storm water from the impervious surface and direct it back into the ground water, in lieu of just running off with sediments that pollute local streams and the Chesapeake Bay.” The rain garden consists of a depressed bed to contain storm water, in conjunction with plants that can withstand being submerged and also thrive through dry periods. Storm water from the Township Building's roof drain will now run to the garden through a buried pipe. The garden is a working example of a storm water BMP (Best Management Practice), allowing residents who are considering projects that need storm water management to see a functioning example.


The site at the Franklin Township Building also has a new birdhouse and bench.

 The required plants were supplied by North Creek Nurseries by owner Steve Castorani, who visited the site to help arrange the rain garden. The system installed last weekend includes an infiltration bed, infiltration trench with pipe, a tank with holes, an infiltration basin and the rain garden. There's also a new bird house at the site, and a new park bench.

Franklin Township provides up to $500 for materials for Eagle Scout projects, Auerbach said. In addition, scouts can get their own donations. The contributors for the rain garden project were Franklin Township, North Creek Nurseries, the White Clay Wild & Scenic River Program, the University of Delaware Water Resources Agency, Lowes Newark, the Chester County Conservation District, and private donors. Casa Italia provided pizza to feed the workers as the rain garden project was completed.

“This is certainly one of the better projects that have been presented to the township, because it is timely to demonstrate a storm water mitigation technique,” Auerbach said. “Several years ago, the township recognized the onerous nature of the Act 167 ordinance. The Planning Commission and supervisors worked very hard to develop a document, Simplified Approach to Stormwater Management, that allows homeowners doing smaller projects to design the storm water system themselves, without engaging an expensive engineer. The township always helps the homeowners with their projects.”

To contact Staff Writer John Chambless, email [email protected].