Emma Griffin, correspondent
March’s Richmond Hill City Council meeting began on a bright note with the presentation of the Business Impact Award to Greg Parker, owner of Parker’s Inc.
Mayor Russ Carpenter presented the award, stating: “The Business Impact Award is given to businesses that actively enhance the city of Richmond Hill, strengthening our local economy while improving the city’s quality of life through initiatives in environment, arts, culture or recreation. This award is more than just recognition – it is a tribute to those who make a real difference in our city.”
Greg Parker has been CEO of Parker’s Kitchen for more than 50 years, originally starting his business venture in 1976 as a single convenience store in Midway. “Under Greg’s leadership, Parker’s has grown and has become more than just a convenience store. It’s a true community partner,” said Carpenter.
The mayor reaffirmed Parker’s commitment to education, economic growth, and local initiatives by announcing that Parker had made a generous donation to the Bryan County School System last week that would fuel the community program.
“Whether it’s supporting education, restoring a beloved local landmark like the Richmond Hill lettuce mural, or simply creating a welcoming space where residents can gather over hot meals, Parker’s kitchen continues to make a lasting difference,” Carpenter ended.
Parker thanked Mayor Carpenter and addressed the audience to thank the city and discuss his leadership in setting architectural design standards.
Parker stated: “It’s been a part of the culture of our company all these years to not meet whatever the standards were, but to exceed the standards. And I remember saying that you guys need to establish some design standards for the city.” He reminisced on working with city leaders to establish a focus on a lowcountry vernacular architectural style.
“We continue to try to elevate the experience. This is a real honor, Mr. Mayor. Thank you very much. I’m real proud of this and proud to be a part of this community.”
Stormwater talks
The mayor then handed the podium to Marcus Sack of M.E. Sack Engineering to give a presentation on stormwater. Sack explained that starting in 2019, the city began to look at the Sterling Creek Crossing at Timber Trail, and--based on a model developed by engineers, determined that a bridge would contribute to flooding the area. This prompted a look into other areas of improvement that were prone to flooding, revealing the following key factors: Rains will increase in frequency and intensity for the foreseeable future, and sea levels will increase for the foreseeable future.
Land masses within flood zone areas are likely to flood, regardless of development.
Flood hazard areas may flood in times of heavy rain and high tide, even when not within the 100 year storm event.
Most frequent flooding not associated with the two items above may be eliminated or alleviated on a per-project basis.
Sack then identified city-wide goals, including one that has already been completed: the city has already funded and performed a city-wide flood/drainage study to identify flood prevention projects.
Sack mentioned a recommendation to create an ordinance that reduces the amount of flood plain rise allowed to zero feet. He said that flood plain mitigation should occur as compensatory cuts and fills as a method to reduce impact, or a study should be conducted to certify no rise. Sack reiterated that this goal was incomplete and has not yet been added to the city’s ordinance.
Sack also listed updates to city ordinances, including an update that stormwater analysis should meet the Georgia stormwater manual, and that coastal stormwater supplement inspection and maintenance agreements must now be executed. Capacity requirements were increased from 10 years to 25 years, and storm and flood plain management codes were adopted. There is no rise requirement, and ordinance updates are still being considered.
Sack clarified by stating, “This is a lot of verbiage to say that EOM is looking at different watersheds to determine if there is a concern for flooding, and if there is a greater reduction requirement within those watersheds. So instead of just having to meet the pre-development flow, maybe you reduce that by 20% or some other percent depending on those watersheds.”
Sack went on to list seven action items that the city was currently taking. The first is a very expensive, long-duration project that includes tide structures and pump stations in critical areas. The city is currently in the running for a FEMA grant to fund this project. The second item is a five-year program focused on a railroad ditch connector at Sterling Creek.
“It’s contingent on rail permitting and existing infrastructure, and this would allow us to control the flow of water in either direction, on Sterling Creek and under Highway 17,” Sack said.
Another item is purchasing homes that have been subject to frequent flooding in the past. Sack stated that most flooded homes were not reported to FEMA, didn’t have flood insurance, and were outside the 100-year floodplain. This prevented the city from taking advantage of FEMA programs to get grant funds to purchase those homes.
Another key item is street modification. For example, raising Rushing Street would prevent frequent flooding of the road, but it is an expensive option that does not result in much gain. The sixth item is pipe and ditch cleaning which is ongoing.
Last but not least, the final item on the “to-do” list is continuing education and public awareness.
“This is the big one,” Sack stated emphatically. “We need to continue to elevate the information that we pump out through social media and other platforms. We need to talk about what flooding is, ongoing drainage improvement projects, limitations and challenges of flood mitigation efforts. We need to explain why pumping is not always a feasible option, talk about the cost of improvements and their impacts on residents’ finances, the importance of flood insurance, even for properties outside of designated flood zones, and the broader impact of living near rivers and swamps and associated flooding risks.”
Sack reiterated that the second action item, the railroad ditch connector at Sterling Creek, was likely the best cost-benefit project available.
“No matter where the flooding comes from, whether it’s coming from the Ogeechee, or the Canoochee or storm surge during a hurricane, we will be able to control the direction of that flow and ease the flooding that may be taking place across the basins.” Sack also emphasized the importance of the last action item, stating: “The education component, in my opinion, is the second most important thing to do, mostly because it’s pretty inexpensive to accomplish and will help educate the residents and hopefully have a good return on investment.”
Sack finished by asking the city to be more specific on defining flooding.
“Is it six inches of water in the road? Is it one foot? Is it when a road becomes impassable? Is it simply when a structure gets inundated with water? Identifying what we believe is flooding will help us identify projects and how to approach them and determine the return on investment on any fixes that we do,” said Sack.
Councilman Robbie Ward asked if the railroad connector, including a pipe to control the flow, might have a reverse effect that increases the flooding. Sack assured him that the gates would be able to close, preventing the water from going the wrong way, but that it would need to be monitored.
Councilman Ward then asked for clarification that the listed projects were 50 to 100 year rain solutions, not for the severe flooding that happened recently. Sack confirmed this and stated that “That level of flooding is really hard to get rid of.” He pulled up a map to point out the impacted area near the Food Lion on Highway 17 that the pipe would best help mitigate. He explained that by opening and closing the gates on the pipe, they could control which way the water flowed, either flowing down Sterling Creek, or back up towards the Canoochee River.
Carpenter asked if they could get to a point where Richmond Hill would not flood from any event. Mr. Sack laughed off the comment, saying, “I think it would not be wise to make that statement.”
Mayor Carpenter agreed, adding: “We all choose to live in a swamp. I’m not making any excuses. We have been doing what we can to alleviate it, but it’s not Kansas.”
Sack then stated that they still had not heard from FEMA about being approved for certain funding, but that they were continuing to strengthen their application after Hurricane Debby, and that they hope to hear back from them soon.
Moving on, the council quickly approved the agenda for the evening, as well as several planning and zoning requests. This included a Sidewalk Performance Bond of $79,320 for Heartwood, a new Sketch Plan for Heartwood, a Preliminary Plat for Wiley Woods, and revenue ordinance fee changes for the Planning and Zoning Department.
Mayor Carpenter then sent out a plea on behalf of the City of Richmond Hill asking for folks to consider serving on local city boards and commission roles, saying: “This is your opportunity to give back and grow as a leader and guide the future of our community. Our website and social media pages have more information on current opportunities and how to apply.”
ESPLOST on the horizon
Closing out, Carpenter mentioned that the council was forbidden by state law from officially endorsing ESPLOST, or the Education Special Purpose Local Option Sales Tax. However, the city attorney, Ray Smith, who was present at the meeting stated that they can exercise their First Amendment Right to give their personal views.
Carpenter said, “I encourage all my friends and family and anybody with anything to do with the school system to support ESPLOST. Without ESPLOST, the education in our community would suffer, and our personal pocketbooks would suffer because the millage rate would have to be increased to support the students as they’re needed. That’s simply my opinion.”
Councilman Robbie Ward added on: “I can guarantee you if the ESPLOST fails, your taxes will go up. I can’t guarantee you if it passes, but I can guarantee you your taxes will go up if ESPLOST fails.”
Councilman Steve Scholar followed up, saying: “I think that passing ESPLOST, in my opinion, is kind of a no-brainer. I think it’s a matter of cutting off your nose to spite your face. I’d much rather have somebody traveling through the county be responsible for paying at least a portion of that, rather than the homeowner getting 100% when the millage rate goes up. So in my personal opinion, I would expect and hope my friends and family would agree and would vote for ESPLOST.”
Emma Griffin is a freelance correspondent with the Bryan County News.