Oakmont officials plan to hire a Harmony-based company to survey Plum Creek and nearby Oakmont Commons as part of their storm water management efforts.
Sperdute Land Surveying was the lowest of six bidders for the work, which is expected to take about four weeks.
Council plans to award the nearly $15,000 contract at its Oct. 21 meeting.
The survey is the latest in response to devastating storms a few months ago.
Storms in July wreaked havoc on the Commons and other Allegheny County neighborhoods.
Residents have attended every council meeting since then, imploring Oakmont leaders to find flooding solutions.
Senate Engineering would use the data compiled by the survey with its models and test different scenarios, which include raising the elevation of the old Plum Creek railroad bed, and removing debris from what’s colloquially called “leaf pile park” near the Commons.
Borough Engineer Amber Yon said her team already started making models using data from the Pennsylvania Spatial Data Access, the state’s official public access open geospatial data portal.
Borough Manager Scot Fodi said using PASDA data is a good start, and the survey would help with more accurate predictions. He said he worked with Sperdute on other projects in other municipalities.
“He works very expediently,” Fodi said.
Expedience is what Commons residents are looking for with some of them still recovering and getting their homes back to normal.
“When I hear thunderstorms, my teeth clench and my stomach tightens wondering are we going to have to go through this once again,” resident Richard Bowman said. “None of us want to. We appreciate the attention council’s been giving to this, and we appreciate you continuing to work on this. There is not one single solution. There’s no silver bullet. I think we all in the Commons understand it. It’s a complex problem and it complex solutions. We just hope and pray you would keep this in front of you and continue to push it forward.”
Council President William Benusa said the borough continues to clean catch basins and culverts, and hopes to gain access to some nearby private property to do more storm water-related work for the Commons.
