Agenda - Public Works Committee - 03/31/2015

Home

October 21, 2014 Members of the Public Works Committee, In July of 2014, the residential area of Gibbon St experienced a large amount of flooding that continued relentlessly for a three week period. During this flooding, at least three homes were drastically affected, causing tens of thousands of dollars in damage to each home. One such home, residents of which were retired mid to late 70's couple, decided to since allow their home to enter into foreclosure. The other home was that of a couple who moved in just months prior, spending all of their income on their first home, and was simply devastated by their Toss. For my personal home, in which I have resided for ten years, the basement in which my husband has been refinishing for years, alone by hand, during what little time he has off from work and his military duties, was destroyed. Approximately three years ago, we had a negligible amount of water enter the basement that did not result in any damage, again during a wetter than usual year. Additionally, as I was removing material from my home this year, it was apparent that this was not the first time our home had been affected by a flood. Insulation was trimmed up several inches off the floor, wood was covered with other pieces of wood to cover the water damage and mold was found behind certain areas of drywall. This was never disclosed to us prior to purchase. My neighbors found similar evidence in their home, which had also not been disclosed to them. After the 2014 flooding, I asked my husband to contact the city engineers to seek their advice on what could be done regarding the storm water accumulating on our property. A city engineer came out to review the property a few weeks later, in which we were grateful. This engineer informed us, that the neighborhood to the parallel to ours is essentially designed to drain directly into our neighborhood and that the houses that experienced the flooding this year are affected with the runoff storm water from these neighborhoods. The engineer also stated that the city should be responsible for the correction of this drainage. We have paid our city taxes for years despite the fact that Gibbon St. benefits very little from the amenities offered from these taxes. We, the affected residents are not naive in thinking that that we are the only area affected by the amount of precipitation that fell this spring and summer and we do understand the financial planning and implementation difficulties associated with this type of project. However, we strongly request that the residential neighborhood of Gibbon St. be prioritized in this undertaking and that we remain informed of all developments. We only wish to never pass along the heartaches and troubles that we have experienced to the future residents of Gibbon St. We would love to stay and have Gibbon St. remain a great neighborhood and city in which to reside. Thank you, The Miske's