Permit brings up flooding issues

The review of the preliminary plat development permit for the 2200 block of North Hico Street led to discussions about a flooding issue that has plagued the Meadowbrook subdivision for more than 10 years.

The request for a preliminary plat development permit went before the planning commission during the Nov. 12 meeting. According to a staff report, the applicant for the Ashley Park Subdivision is seeking to establish a phase II of an expired preliminary plat permit.

The first phase of this development, the Meadowbrook subdivision was built between 2005 and 2007, according to Justin Bland, the city engineer. Bland said while a detention basin for run-off water was built, a drainage ditch was never constructed.

The project was taken over by a bank during the recession, according to Bland, and then the bank sold off some of the lots. When the lots were sold, utility companies moved in and placed underground utilities, he said.

Bland told the commission that he was asked to find a solution for the drainage problem.

“We looked at a bunch of different options,” Bland said.

One option is to confine the water to the Meadowbrook side, but it is problematic because of the underground utilities, he said.

“We’d have to relocate them [and that] would cost a lot of money,” Bland said. “Also, there is some shallow rock that we’d have to deal with.”

According to Bland, he and his team had spoken to the previous owner of the property about trying to spread the ditch out on the Meadowbrook side, but both parties were unable to come to an agreement. Right now, the city and the developer are aware that there is an issue and Bland thinks this is the best time to solve the problem.

However, neither Bland nor the developer have discussed what route will be taken to solve the problem of flooding.

“At this point in time we don’t have the specific details to what they are proposing because we are in the preliminary phase,” Bland said.

After Bland concluded his presentation, several citizens who live in Meadowbrook subdivision spoke about how the flooding has affected their lives.

“I did walk in the area that is part of this development and it is wet pretty much all year round. At least when I observed it,” said Meadowbrook resident Joel Funk.

Resident Teresa Carlsen said she and her husband, Brian Carlsen, had seen the flood waters come within about four inches of being inside their home.

“We have a big flood at least 10 times a year,” said resident Jim Phillips. “It comes up to the car and is soggy all the time. This is a real problem. We are really worried about it.”

Ron Homeyer, an engineer from Civil Engineering Inc., mentioned a few steps that he and the developer are considering.

“The developer’s aware of it and is willing to put some drains in the back,” Homeyer said.

While it may seem counter intuitive, the new development will help with the problem because there will be new streets to intercept the water that is coming and divert it to the detention basin instead of running the water to their properties, he said.

Homeyer said he will put in a backyard swell that will probably contain a concrete trickle channel so the water will continue north into the drainage and prevent the water from spewing into people’s backyards.

Teresa Carlsen asked if the swell will be where the existing ditch is or whether it will be a new ditch on the opposite side of the utilities. Homeyer replied that the swell is going to be on tthe new project and not on any other properties.

“If they’re going to put the drainage on the other property that probably would fix the problem,” Brian Carlsen said.

The preliminary plat development permit was approved and will go before the city’s board of directors on Dec. 3. Other business discussed included:

• FP19-03, the final plat development permit for the 2300 block of North Mount Olive St. was approved and will go before the board of directors on Dec. 3.

•RZ19-05 and PP19-05 relating to the rezoning development permit and preliminary plat development permit for the 2500 Block of South Waukesha Road were approved and will go before the board of directors on Dec. 3.

• SD19-10 Significant Development Permit for 310 North Progress Ave. was approved and will go before the board of directors on Dec. 3.