HomeMy WebLinkAboutMeet the Engineering DepartmentThe Engineering Department
Meet the Team (from left to right): Justin McNeal, Sr. Civil Engineer, Sam Harris, Civil Engineer, Emily
Rodgers, Civil Engineer, Connor Crandall, Engineering Technician, Max Villanueva, GIS Analyst,
Madison Clapp, Engineering Technician, and David O’Shea P.E., Director of Engineering
Engineering Department Overview
The Engineering team is dedicated to supporting all Town Departments in their endeavors. Our
priority is to provide sustainable, efficient, safe, and cost-effective solutions and designs for
Capital Improvement and Maintenance Projects.
Capital Improvements Planning
The Engineering Department prepares the Capital Improvements Plan (CIP)- a key planning and
budgeting tool that provides information about the Town’s infrastructure needs over a five-year
time frame. The CIP is reviewed annually by staff and various committees and adopted by the
Town Board during budget adoption.
Responsibilities
The Department oversees the design, construction, inspection, regulation, and review of a variety
of projects in the Town related to:
• Highway Infrastructure
• Parks & Trails
• Stormwater Management
• Sanitary Sewer Systems
• Potable Water Supply
• GIS Mapping
• Development Review
Digital Permitting & Resources
We encourage you to visit the Engineering Department page on our website
at https://townithacany.gov/departments/engineering/ for valuable resources to assist with future
project planning. The Engineering Department permits the following items within the Town:
• External Plumbing Permit
• Stormwater Pollution Prevention Plan (SWPPP)
• Sewer Exemption Requests
• Water and Sewer Availability Determination.
Permit applications can be found here: https://ithacany.portal.opengov.com/categories/1080
Stormwater Management
We are dedicated to protecting our local water resources. One of the programs used to protect
state water quality is the Municipal Separate Storm Sewer System (MS4) program. This program
is intended to create an enforceable set of practices to establish control measures and
management of stormwater discharges going into state waters.
We are currently in the process of updating our Stormwater Management Program (SWMP) to
ensure continued compliance with the NYS DEC SPDES General Permit for Stormwater
Discharges from Municipal Separate Storm Sewer Systems (MS4's). For more information on
our Stormwater Management Program Plan please visit our website:
https://townithacany.gov/municipal-stormwater-management/.
What is Stormwater?
Stormwater is the portion of precipitation that is in excess of the evaporative or infiltrative
capacity of soils, or the retentive capacity of surface features, which flows or will flow off
the land by surface runoff to waters of the State.
Due to the ongoing importance of preserving the quality of our surface waters from
environmental runoff and stormwater discharge, New York State has prioritized
regulations and permitting to ensure that stormwater discharged into state waters—such
as lakes, streams, and rivers—is properly managed and treated.
This effort is regularly monitored to verify the established plan minimizes impacts of
surface pollutants.
The Town has also adopted regulations that require earth disturbing activities to install
sediment and erosion control practices to be installed and maintained when projects are
being performed.
Pollutants that can be found in stormwater include the following:
• Nutrients such as phosphorus and nitrogen can promote the overgrowth of algae,
deplete oxygen in the waterway, and be harmful to other aquatic life.
• Bacteria from animal wastes and illicit connections to sewerage systems can make
nearby lakes and bays unsafe for wading, swimming, and the propagation of edible
shellfish.
• Oil and grease from spills during vehicle maintenance activities causes sheen and
odors.
• Sediment from construction activities clouds waterways and interferes with the
habitat of living things that depend upon those waters.
• Improper use of pesticides, herbicides, and fertilizers negatively impacts the health
of living organisms and leads to ecosystem imbalances.
• Trash and debris damages aquatic life, introduces chemical pollution, and
diminishes the beauty of our waterways.
What is an Illicit Discharge and Why is it Prohibited?
Any discharge to the municipal storm sewer system or surface waters that contain substances
other than stormwater that are not permitted to be in the water. These Discharges can occur in
several ways including:
• Dumping pollutants such as motor oil, gasoline, paint, or sewage into storm drains, catch
basins, ditches, or directly into waterbodies.
• Establishing illegal connections to the stormwater system, like tying a sanitary sewer pipe
or shop floor drain into the stormwater infrastructure.
• Installing pipes that bypass a sanitary sewer or septic system and discharge directly into
stormwater ditches, open channels, or waterbodies.
• Indirect pollution from stormwater runoff—for instance, rainwater picking up sediment
or other contaminants and carrying them into stormwater systems or nearby waterbodies.
• Leaks from damaged infrastructure, such as broken sanitary sewer lines seeping into
cracked stormwater pipes or failing septic systems releasing waste into storm drains or
onto the surface.
Proper Handling and Disposal Practices
• Household Hazardous Waste Collection: The Tompkins County Department of
Recycling and Materials Management (TCRMM) offers a permanent location to accept
HHW from Tompkins County residents and qualified businesses and organizations that
are Conditionally Exempt Small Quantity Generators (CESQG). Material is accepted at
the Recycling and Solid Waste Center’s D.E.P.O.T. – Don’t Empty Pollutants in Our
Trash. Approximately 6 events are held throughout the year.
Additional Resources
• Town of Ithaca, NY Storm Sewer System and Surface Waters Protection
https://ecode360.com/11456365#11456365
• Water Quality Management - NYSDEC
https://dec.ny.gov/environmental-protection/water/water-quality
• The Stormwater Coalition of Tompkins County
An inter-municipal organization formed to assist MS4s in cooperation,
communication, and compliance with state regulations for stormwater
discharges. https://tcstormwater.org/
• Water Quality Monitoring
The Community Science Institute (CSI) supports a network of water quality
monitors and the capability to analyze water samples submitted by the
public https://communityscience.org/
• Educational Programs - Discover Cayuga Lake
https://discovercayugalake.org/cayuga-lake-boat-educational-programs/
As always, if you have questions, call our office at 607-273-1656,
email engineering@townithacany.gov , or stop and see us at the Public Works Facility.
David O’Shea P.E., Director of Engineering/Town Engineer
GIS :
Humanity has been navigating since the dawn of time and has only gotten better with the
advent of writing and recorded history. Geography has had thousands of years of
innovation and advancement throughout history.
Geographic Information Science, GIS, appeared alongside other computer-based systems
for recording and accessing information, with its specialty being location-oriented data.
Soon after, it quickly became the new way to generate and share mapping data to both
professional and the general public.
Some of the products that people use every day were built on GIS; including google maps,
aviation, business expansion, and location-based data collection/surveying. While it is
more than maps, the science of geography has created and enhanced many aspects of our
day to day lives.
The Town of Ithaca currently uses GIS to maintain records of our municipal assets,
planning our community needs for zoning, and relating locations to various records for
taxes/ownership. We also use GIS for our plow routes/road repairs, future service
expansion, and our impact on our environment.
Some local resource examples:
• City of Ithaca’s comprehensive GIS page https://www.cityofithaca.org/335/Maps-
Demographics
• Tompkins County Parks and Trails Network; https://ithacatrails.org/map.
The Town also plans on creating our own site for public use sometime in the near future.
These are just a couple of examples of how GIS is not just something you use, but how we
connect people to places and beyond.
-Max Villanueva, GIS Analyst