Clintonville: Proposed stream fixes in Walhalla Ravine met with skepticism
Plans are in the works to fix the stream in Walhalla Ravine, which includes improving the roadway, reducing pollution in the water and implementing erosion-control measures along the banks.
The city of Columbus estimated it will spend $1 million on the project along Walhalla Road between Clinton Heights and East Longview avenues in Clintonville.
The project, now in the design phase, includes about 1,000 feet of roadway and stream restoration, said Alana Shockey, assistant director of regulatory compliance and sustainability for the Columbus Department of Public Utilities.
"It's just a really wonderful candidate for stream restoration because it's a community asset," Shockey said.
The main driver behind the work is to mitigate sanitary-sewer overflows in the ravine, she said.
On occasion, storm water breaches sanitary-sewer lines, which tend to overflow during heavy-rain events, she said.
The city also is using a new initiative, Blueprint Columbus, to comply with orders from the Ohio Environmental Protection Agency to eliminate sanitary-sewer overflows. Blueprint Columbus, for example, adds green infrastructure in neighborhoods.
The Walhalla project is part of other infrastructure work being completed in Clintonville 3, a project area roughly bounded by the Olentangy River, railroad tracks, Richards Road and Parkview Drive.
After a two-year study, other problems have emerged on the opposite side of the stream – erosion along the roadway to the south and the ravine bank on the south, she said.
So the portions of the road will be rebuilt between Clinton Heights and East Longview, and erosion-control measures will be placed on the bank, allowing for natural vegetation to regrow and maintain soil levels, Shockey said.
In yet another rehabilitation effort, the city will fix the storm-sewer line at Walhalla Road and Clinton Heights and create a plunge pool in which the storm sewer drains directly into the stream.
The result, Shockey said, is that the plunge pool will slow down the energy of the water during heavy rainfalls and allow a natural habitat for animals and fish to form in the stream.
One of the overarching goals is to reduce suspended solids, or pollutants, in the stream by 20%, she said.
The bottom of the stream itself is bedrock, and no work will be done to reconfigure that natural feature, Shockey said.
Laura Fay, chairperson of the science committee of Friends of the Lower
Olentangy Watershed, or FLOW, said she has several concerns with the city's plans, one of which is the removal of several trees.
Another is the $1 million price tag, which could change.
"That's a lot of money for a stream that doesn't reach the Olentangy (River to the west,) she said.
Fay said she would like to see the city slow the rate of the water upstream to the east of Clinton Heights.
"We would like them to narrow the road, give the river a little space," too, she said.
David Brown, whose house is on the high bank of the ravine's north side, said he's more optimistic about the project.
Brown said he is concerned, though, about whether property owners would be assessed for damage done as a result of the work and what would happen to the erosion measures residents put in themselves.
"The truth is it's a construction project, and it's going to be messy," he said. gseman@thisweeknews.com @Thisweekgary