Spring Rain Reminds Both City Officials and Residents of Wapak’s Drainage Challenges
Although the first day of March came in like a lamb on Wednesday, by Friday Wapakoneta was back to exhibiting its more typical cold, windy, wet March weather. A full day of rain caused the not-so-unusual annoyances of puddling, muddy yards, and busy storm sewers. But a full day or two of rain in Wapakoneta can be much more than just an annoyance for many residents, it can be a costly, dirty, unsafe problem of flooded basements and disappearing walkways that needs to be solved. For those residents, when it will all get better has been a bit of a mystery -- a mystery city officials are trying to solve in two distinct ways: committing funds and services to fix existing problems that are a result of past development, and instituting new stormwater regulations for future development to ensure Wapakoneta’s drainage issues do not expand or grow in intensity.
Wapakoneta is growing steadily, somewhat similar to the growth it experienced in the 1960s and 1970s. In the ‘60s and ‘70s, developers built neighborhoods typical of the era, where homes were constructed quickly and infrastructure guidelines were loose at best. Property design and proper drainage outlets were not yet regulated, and therefore were not a priority. Fifty-plus years later, residents are paying the price for shortcuts of the past. “A lot of properties in the community were built around agricultural farmland, utilizing existing drainage tiles and without adequate stormwater regulations,” said Wapakoneta Director of Public Service and Safety Michael Brillhart. “[Among other issues], water comes from adjacent properties with different elevation levels and creates a drainage problem.”
Resolving a problem created by Wapakoneta’s
history is no easy feat. Mayor Steve Henderson and other city officials personally shoulder calls regularly from frustrated and concerned citizens. “Every problem area we receive calls on we address as soon as we can,” said Mayor Henderson. “We try to handle each on an individual case-by-case basis, and we’re working diligently to alleviate each problem.”
Mayor Henderson added that one of the problems is the issue of private property, “The city takes a look to see what impact city services had or can have, and if it’s something under our jurisdiction then we work to fix it. Unfortunately, many existing problems are that of individual building and property owners.” Henderson mentioned specific older downtown buildings that need updated, and an absentee owner of at least one trailer home neighborhood who lives out of state and will not return phone calls. “These owners are responsible for the safety of their properties. These are private properties, the city reaches out and tries to contact these owners, but they just don’t return phone calls. They have a duty to keep their properties safe and functioning and they’re not fulfilling that duty,” said Mayor Henderson.
Solving drainage and flooding issues within the city’s control are being addressed under the “Sewer Capital Improvement Fund” budgetary line item. “Within the last two months we’ve been working on three projects,” said Director Brillhart. “Some of the projects, however, are so complex they have to be resolved with a plan of action.” To ensure the current drainage issues don’t follow the city into the future, Wapakoneta has modified existing codes and implemented new regulations. “We’ve modified the zoning code and are implementing specific stormwater management regulations… regulations that were adopted over the last 20 or so years and are constantly being modified,” said Brillhart. “For any new subdivisions, the city will review the civil site plan and make sure it’s in compliance. Sometimes, depending on the development, other entities will also have to complete a review. The Civil Engineer of Records has to complete storm water management modeling to ensure that drainage is mitigated,” added Brillhart.
“Regarding our infrastructure, with growth comes growing pains,” said Mayor Henderson. “Now and going forward, our engineers are out all over the city, completing inspections and making sure our sewer and drainage needs are met.”