Street flooding at Third Street and West Avenue during a December 2014 nor'easter.
To the Editor:
Certainly those property owners who reside between 29
th Street and 34
th Street will be relieved to learn that the mayor is making a commitment to addressing their street flooding. And for those of you living on the north end, the new pumping station may help alleviate at least some of your flooding problems, whenever it finally gets built. As for the residents of Merion Park, you may have some relief, though reports of the effectiveness of the pumping station at alleviating flooding in that neighborhood are mixed. As for the rest of you, that are incurring street flooding, better luck in the next 5-year capital plan.
There are two documents you need to examine on the city’s website (links under
Capital Projects.) One is the "Road Rating" document. The other is the "Road Improvement Program." The road rating document rates roads according to 13 criteria, only one of which is related to flooding. It excludes tidal flooding and defines a flooding event as flood water that fails to drain after 24 hours. As many of you know from firsthand experience, flood waters have already done their damage by that point.
Look at areas of town that regularly flood and their deficient drainage score. You’re kidding me, right? Just remember, tidal flooding is excluded from the criteria. We don’t do tidal flooding here, even though other shore communities are taking steps to remedy it. Oh sure, it also states that a higher priority may be given to streets where flooding persists, the operative word being “may.” I might become blissfully ignorant of what is going on in this town, but I wouldn’t count on it.
The second document, the 5-year roads and drainage “plan” specifically mentions only two streets where drainage improvements are contemplated. (A third area of town has to do with a new bridge being built, for which the city has already stated that the drainage pipes have to be relocated.) We looked at the streets listed on the roads and drainage plan and cross-referenced those streets to the road rating document. Curiously, there is little correlation between the streets that rated the worst for flooding, and the roads that are prioritized in the 5-year roads and drainage plan.
Several of you have asked the city how much of the money they’re committing to roads and drainage will go towards road repaving, and how much of that money will go to drainage improvements. We never did receive an answer to that question. Isn’t that curious? Is it that they don’t know or aren’t saying?
Here’s the thing. There are around 60 property owners who have contacted our group (OC Flooding). They represent neighborhoods from the far north end to the far south end and all points in between. Flooding is not isolated to a neighborhood here and a neighborhood there. It is citywide phenomenon. We have to get beyond the squeaky-wheel-gets-the-grease mentality. ALL property owners affected by recurring street flooding have a right to have their street flooding problems addressed.
What we have asked for is a comprehensive plan for addressing street flooding island-wide. The city has yet to produce such a plan. What we have asked is for the city to come up with a plan to repair and upgrade our dilapidated storm water system. The city has yet to produce such a plan.
We replaced defective check valves, and water is still coming up through the stormwater grates. Outfall pipes have been replaced and streets are still flooding. How can the city maintain that it fixed the problem? It is pointless to crow about what you did do if you haven’t fixed the problem. Clearly there is more work to do. What it all goes to show is that you’re only wasting taxpayer dollars by proceeding without a detailed plan.
Do we have $6 million to spend on streetscape improvements for the downtown? Do we have $5 million for a new public safety building? Do we have money to waste on moving the Historical Museum to the Stainton’s building? Street flooding is affecting the quality of life of so many property owners. The point is, Mr. Mayor, you need to spend our tax dollars on the things that matter to the taxpayers and property owners of this town FIRST.
I don’t want to hear how street flooding is a priority for this administration. I want to see that it is. I don’t want to hear how we have a plan. I want to see the plan. No councilman it’s not that we don’t understand. It’s that the documents the administration produced don’t jibe with what you’re saying.
What I want to say to the city is that I’m committing $35,000 towards paying my property taxes ... then having to buy a new car in the next five years. That should be satisfactory to you, right? That is precisely what you are telling US.
Eric Sauder / OC Flooding
[email protected]
