FALMOUTH — At a public meeting next week, the town will begin taking a close look at how storm water from private land along U.S. Route 1 affects the area’s water drainage system.

The meeting with Theo Holtwijk, director of long-range planning, kicks off the development of a storm-water management plan for the commercial area of Route 1. The meeting is scheduled for July 25, at 8 a.m., at Memorial Library, 5 Lunt Road.

Falmouth will develop the storm-water plan with the help of a $50,000 federal grant, administered by the Maine Coastal Program of the State Planning Office. The Maine Department of Transportation and the Casco Bay Estuary Partnership also are partners in the project.

Storm-water planning is critical for the Route 1 commercial area, between Route 88 and the Maine Turnpike spur, according to the town’s grant application.

Waterways in the area drain into Mill Creek and then empty into Mussel Cove, which is closed to shellfishing because of pollution. In addition, the storm-water planning comes as the town is grappling with other decisions about development of the Route 1 corridor.

In 2011, the Town Council commissioned a plan to coordinate infrastructure improvements in the road’s right-of-way. The ultimate goal of this plan is to create environmentally sustainable improvements, according to the grant application.

The application called better management of storm-water runoff  “imperative” to this effort.

William Hall can be reached at 781-3661 ext. 106 or whall@theforecaster.net. Follow him on Twitter: @hallwilliam.