By Stephen Smoot
Throughout the second half of 2025, the increasingly parched skies and lands in and around Pendleton County almost made some forget the relentless rains that drenched the region from January till July.
The Town of Frankin, and those who saw the worst of the troubles, have not. One primary problem emerged with the Pendleton Senior and Family Services building in Franklin. It saw on two occasions problems with flooding water. Waters came up through the sewage system and also threatened to come through the doors.
Janice Lantz, executive director, went to the Town of Franklin and the Pendleton County Commission to find relief. The troubles faced by her center raised concerns about both stormwater flows through town and also the continually rising riverbed. While federal and state regulations hamstring the ability of local authorities to correct the South Branch River’s bed issues, stormwater mitigation should help to reduce many of the issues.
Michelle Connor, assisted by her husband, John, helped to facilitate the meeting. Also present were Bob Horan, mayor, Keelie Smith, council member, Frank Wehrle, town administrator, Rick Gillespie, Pendleton County Emergency Services coordinator, and a number of others present to share concerns and also ideas on further projects.
Connor officiated as the Mon Forest Towns representative for Franklin. She explained the mission of the Mon Forest Towns, “to bring projects and opportunities that connect people to the Mon Forest.” The close connections to the lands and waters of both the Monongahela National Forest and the Chesapeake Bay watershed provide opportunities.
Franklin also serves as the first municipality on the South Branch of the Potomac, which includes it in the regulatory regime of the Chesapeake Bay Region. While, as Connor stated, this “makes things a little tricky,” she explained that it also opens funding opportunities. Stormwater has the potential to wash pollutants off of hard surfaces, such as roads, parking lots, and rooftops, into the streams. Reducing the speed, flow, and impact of stormwater serves the purpose of improving Town of Frankin conditions, as well as those of the area’s streams and rivers.
Attendees also learned that the community engagement aspect of planning stormwater mitigation was 100 percent grant funded. Phase one came in a social media survey with the meeting serving as phase two of the engagement process. Focus lay primarily on public spaces, because as the Thrasher representatives informed, “We’re certainly not going to tell people how to use their property.”
A Thrasher representative then shared a presentation that discussed different aspects of stormwater mitigation infrastructure. These included rain gardens, bioswales, permeable pavement, rooftops covered with small plants, constructed wetlands, and more. Each object has two goals, to capture or at least slow the movement of rainwater during heavy storms and also to increase the aesthetic beauty of the area. He noted that “chains” of best management practices in choosing infrastructure could work well in Franklin.
One example of a public space plan lay in the Town of Franklin Park’s lot. The representative shared that the dirt and gravel had compacted together to form a much less permeable surface than the surrounding grounds. In this example, use of paving stones that allow stormwater to seep into the ground through them rather than a flat surface slows water movement. The lot can be built in such a way as to use bioswales to help to channel the remaining flowing water into a rain garden.
These best management practices use the natural filtration of soil and water to clean it prior to getting into the river. Additionally, rain gardens are designed to use native plants to make the infrastructure look both more natural and more beautiful. Use in areas such as Berkeley Springs has shown their utility in reducing stormwater impacts.
Attendees saw multiple plans to address some of Franklin’s most significant stormwater problems, including stormwater flow down Dogwood Street, increasing problems with the channeling of water around Pendleton Senior and Family Services and the Town Park softball field, and others. The town’s parking lot bordering the Franklin Innovation Hub was also cited as a place that accumulated stormwater and caused surrounding buildings problems.
Representatives at the meeting noted that a number of funding sources could come together to fund the projects foreseen for Franklin. One said, “Part of our job is to make sure the public is educated.”
With some projects envisioning improvements along and in Franklin streets, Wehrle cautioned all by saying ownership by the West Virginia Division of Highways could create some complications. While “it mitigates some of the maintenance costs,” DoH ownership “in practice . . . causes complications.”
Sam Urban from Trout Unlimited also shared some necessary points, such as that any “green infrastructure” installed would require regular maintenance. This includes regularly “mucking out” channels for water, replacing mulch in the gardens, cleaning debris such as cigarette butts from between permeable pavers.
“There are long term maintenance concerns with all of these,” he explained.
Wehrle also shared that Franklin has the opposite problem of many municipalities. Most have issues with sewage getting into the sanitary town stormwater drainage system. He explained that stormwater shoves its way into the systems feeding the sewage treatment plant.
After the presentation, the public was invited to take part in a question and answer session.
