By Betsy Brewer Brantner
Contributing Writer

Oxford Borough officials have long discussed upgrades for the wells, water lines and sewer lines for Mt. Vernon Street. 

These infrastructure improvements are not cheap, so the borough is fortunate that Oxford staff members have actively pursued grant opportunities to help make these upgrades a possibility.

Oxford Borough Manager Pauline Garcia-Allen has worked at the borough since October of 2021. In that time, she has secured a remarkable amount of grant money for borough projects. But even she knows that there won’t be enough grant money to fund an entire project or all the improvements that are needed.

“As successful as we’ve been,” Garcia-Allen said, “we will never be able to do all the infrastructure improvements we need to do with just grants. When we seek a grant, we immediately look for a match for the grant, so we don’t have to rely on the borough’s capital funds.”

She continued, “The more grants we receive, the better. We don’t always get what we are hoping for. That’s really a reflection of how competitive these grants are.”

The borough reaches out to the county, state and federal agencies to secure funding. Grant funding is never guaranteed, but secured grants make tax dollars go further and enable municipalities to make improvements that enhance the local economy, public safety and the shared environment. 

Mt. Vernon Street has been discussed for years as an important project for a variety of reasons. It is an important street regarding wells, water and sewer line improvements. Traffic on the street has also greatly increased as the borough continues to grow as an urban center.

The Mt. Vernon Street project will include many items. The proposed traffic calming bio-retention bump-out project is located on the north side of East Mt. Vernon Street. The contributing drainage area to the proposed project includes half of East Mt. Vernon Street and the land north of the street. The drainage area is approximately 1.06 acres of impervious area and 3.17 acres of pervious area. Three, 45-foot-long bio-retention bump outs are proposed. These basins will be able to capture a total of approximately 1,627 cubic feet of storm water. This equates to the runoff generated from approximately 0.5 inches of rain over the entire impervious area within the drainage area. The project includes removing the existing sidewalk, grass median, and asphalt, excavating the sub-grade, placing aggregate, and bio-retention soils within the excavated area, planting the bio-retention area, and installing new concrete sidewalks.

The final design of the stormwater rain garden bump outs is funded by a $22,000 grant from the Chesapeake Bay Trust (CBT) G3 program awarded in 2023. In February of 2025, the borough was awarded $100,000 for the project from the Pennsylvania Department of Community and Economic Development Watershed Resource Protection Program. The project is anticipated to go to bid in the spring of 2025. The bump-outs will improve stormwater conveyance and help the Borough meet MS4 pollutant reduction requirements. It includes running a raw water line from well no. 14 in Sycamore.

In 2022, the borough received a $150,000 grant through the Pennsylvania Department of Community and Economic Development Multi Modal Transportation Fund Program that will support needed road and streetscape improvements along the street.

The Mt. Vernon Street project is intended to employ a “dig once” strategy and include the following improvements: structural repair and repaving of Mt. Vernon Street, which was identified by the borough’s Public Works Department as one of the borough roads most in need of repair; replacement of the water main under Mt. Vernon Street; and the borough will work with the utilities to complete any necessary upgrades to their infrastructure, so that the new road will not need to be disturbed in the near future.

The Borough staff’s effectiveness in grant writing is successful due to their attention to detail. The “dig once” approach was a successful approach for grant competitiveness and the grant funding secured for the project.

If you want to get involved, construction of the bump-outs will include opportunities to volunteer with planting and to learn more about responsible and sustainable stormwater management. For more information call 610-932-2500.