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Tuesday, 26 February 2008 |
W’field resident askes for help to find a solution to harmful storm water
By KRISTIN REICHARDT
Staff Writer
WAYNESFIELD — Accompanied by her tears, her daughters and a poster board filled with photographs of her damaged house, a village resident Monday approached Waynesfield Village Council member seeking help.
Penny Cook, 205 E. Ohio St., pleaded for councilors to help her find a temporary solution to recurring flood waters filling her tri-level house’s lower level — including her laundry room, half-bathroom and family room — every time heavy rains hit the area.
Photographs show water sitting in a pond-like puddle in her front yard, climbing as high as the middle of laundry baskets sitting on the floor that were not moved in time, and beginning traces of mold forming at her foundation.
“I need a solution from the town,” Cook said. “I don’t know what to do.”
Cook called the residence, which she purchased in December 2002 and lives in with her fiancé, daughter, step-daughter and step-granddaughter, her life’s investment, and the reason she wakes up and goes to work every day.
She said the problems began right away after she bought the house because of low elevation, which causes her neighbors’ floodwaters to flow downhill toward her, as well.
“It’s unhealthy,” Cook said, adding that she missed multiple days of work to clean up the resulting mess, costing her an end-of-the-year attendance bonus.
“I am totally at my wit’s end,” Cook said. “I’m willing to do what I need to do, but I can’t do it by myself.
“If the town would help me get rid of the water, I could begin my repairs,” she said. “I wish I could do the repairs and have it stay that way.”
During the storms that hit the beginning of February and caused major flooding in Wapakoneta and surrounding areas, Cook said Mayor Mike Ridenour and Waynesfield Village Administrator Ron Zimmerman assessed the situation and helped her pump water from the house. The problem is that there is no place to which to pump the water, she said.
Despite using two sump pumps, Cook said no matter how many pumps she purchased of what strength, it does no good if the water just sits in her yard and streams back in due to the low topographical placement of her house.
“That part of town does not have good storm sewer service for these people,” Ridenour said during Cook’s presentation of the recurring problem councilors have discussed for months. “Here we are, back a square one with how do we get these problems fixed.”
He and Zimmerman discussed creating a potential catch basin near the problem area to which residents affected on the east side of town could pump the excess water. Residences on that side of town depend on old clay tiles that are backed up with mud, as well as ditches installed on personal properties.
Ridenour also suggested Cook use landscaping to create a swale that would help direct water away from the structure.
Cook mentioned a petition she signed in 2003, and a village improvement needs survey she completed last year in which she addressed the need for storm drainage on her street.
The mayor said lack of village funds cause another part of the problem.
Potential funds from a Community Development Block Grant (CDBG) Distress Fund would have been earmarked to fix stormwater sewers throughout the village, but the village did not receive the grant this year.
Councilors plan to reapply for the grant in two years, when it becomes available to them again.
“The problem is the EPA (Environmental Protection Agency) has no money for storm sewer improvements,” Craig Mescher, of Fanning-Howey architecture and engineering firm in Celina, said during the meeting. “One of the hardest issues for every community ends up being storm sewers.”
Most funding for repairs comes when a village tries to package those necessary funds in when applying for funding for other projects, such as water meters or street repairs.
Councilors asked that Fanning-Howey assess the properties in question and try to determine the feasibility and cost of creating a temporary solution until the village obtains more funds.
“What I would like to do is come up with a temporary solution and then a permanent solution to the problem,” Ridenour said. “The permanent solution is going to cost a lot of money.”
While she debated attending the council meeting because she thought it was “useless,” Cook said the councilor’s supportive response gives her hope.
“I’m really happy they are going to give me a temporary solution to my problem,” Cook said as she left the meeting, wiping tears from her still-damp cheeks. |
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Last Updated ( Wednesday, 27 February 2008 )
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