After differing with the Army Corps of Engineers, the state Department of Environmental Protection has agreed to fund a long-awaited flood mitigation project for Montoursville, provided the county commissioners designate the county as the project sponsor, Mark Murawski, county transportation planner, told the commissioners on Tuesday.

According to Murawski, the proposed levee project originally had been studied by the Army Corps of Engineers. Although the corps determined the project did not provide enough benefits to justify its estimated $7.5 million cost, the department believes otherwise and has agreed to pay for the design and construction of the levee, he said.

"The DEP looked at the corps study and came up with a different conclusion," he said.

Murawski asked the commissioners to consider designating the county as the project's sponsor, which is one of DEP's conditions for moving forward with the project.

The commissioners will vote on the request Thursday.

DEP will pay for the design and construction of the levee, while the county and the borough will split the $500,000 it will cost to acquire land and relocate public utilities affected by the project, according to Murawski.

The levee will be built in an "L-shape" along the "left side of Loyalsock Creek, between the Beltway and the railway bridge ... and then go over toward the airport," he said.

The project is important for Montoursville because past floods have caused a lot of damage to the borough, Murawski said.

"The borough has been flooded twice in the past 12 years, and the damage has totaled $8 million between the two," he said. "If we had built this levee 12 years ago, it would have already paid for itself."

Montoursville will be responsible for maintaining and operating the levee once construction is complete.

DEP has a waiting list for levee projects, so construction will not begin for four to five years, Murawski said. If the county approves its sponsorship, it will be "the first step" toward getting the project off the ground, he added.

In other business, the commissioners Thursday will consider a grant application for federal stimulus funds that will be used to offer broadband accessibility throughout the county.

The project will not only provide high-speed Internet access to rural areas of the county where it does not exist, it will improve emergency response communications.

"This will also cover the expansion of 911 communications," Mya Toon, county grants administrator, said. "This will add more functionality."

The project will cost $8.3 million, which could be covered by the grant - a Broadband Technical Opportunities Program grant that is part of federal stimulus funding.

The application is due Aug. 14, according to Karl Demi, deputy director of county information services.

In other news, the Trout Run stream restoration project will be under way in a few weeks, according to Rachelle Ricotta, county community development planner.

The project, which is funded by DEP and the state Department of Transportation, will straighten out the stream banks and prevent further heavy erosion along Lycoming Creek at Trout Run Park in Lewis Township.

According to Ricotta, the project will provide more land for the park.