UPDATE

In October 2021, Town staff met with Loudoun County Staff to discuss outstanding issues that were preventing the approval of the retrofit plans.  After the meeting, staff reached out to the design engineer (AECOM) to request a proposal to address the remaining comments.  AECOM.  We also confirmed with our Procurement Officer that we could continue the design with this engineer, since they were no longer under a Task Order Contract.  Once the determination was made to allow further work, AECOM began work on a proposal for the Town.   Additional information was needed from the County; for example, in January they provided samples of an acceptable Emergency Preparedness Plan and a Simplified Dam Breach Inundation Study. 

At the end of January, we received a proposal from AECOM to fully address the items noted by Loudoun County.  This proposal is currently being reviewed by Staff. 

The pond at Hirst Farm was designed as a dry pond.  The developer of the property did not complete the transformation of the pond from a sediment basin to a dry pond; the developer had declared bankruptcy. 

A study was completed to determine the costs to either change the pond to a dry pond, or make it a wet pond with water quality benefits.  Working with the community, it was determined that the community viewed the wet pond as an amenity and preferred that it remain a wet pond.  In 2015, the estimated cost for the retrofit of the pond was $600,000.   The Town submitted for and received a Stormwater Local Assistance Fund Grant from DCR for $300,000.  Loudoun County saw a benefit for their MS4 requirements, and agreed to contribute $150,000, and the Town allocated the remaining $150,000. 

As the design proceeded, issues were identified by the County that had not been envisioned in the original design scope for the project.   The Town had requested certain waivers that were Due to funding constraints, the design was put on hold.  A recent meeting with Loudoun County was helpful to identify the remaining issues, and steps forward to resolve the issues.  It took some time to gather some additional information from the County and also to re-engage with the engineer that had worked on the design.  As noted above, we have received a proposal from the design engineer; the proposal is under review by Staff.