City Engineer Kevin Collignon on Tuesday presented a plan that could cost approximately $5 million to improve the York neighborhood drainage system and reduce flooding by up to an estimated 50%.
Collignon said there were some major flooding across the neighborhood in areas like North and South Stratford Drives, South York Street, and the intersection of Harlan and Griffith avenues.
Through research presented during Tuesday’s City Commission work session, Collignon found that the common reason for the flooding comes back to the makeup of the land. He said some of the areas south of North Stratford and north of Bittel Road are all lower and collect water easier.
During their study, different plans were conducted based on rain events including a 1-year, 10-year, 25-year and 100-year plan.
Each plan has a decreased odds of occurrence. For example, preparing a 25-year rain event has a 5% chance of occurring in a given year, while a 100-year rain event has a 1% chance.
Collignon recommended the 25-year rain event plan to help eliminate the drainage problem throughout the neighborhood. That plan would cost around $5 million.
The neighborhood holds approximately 240 homes, with about 160 homes experiencing close proximity to flooding.
“With the improvements, it looks like we’re able to cut that number in half so instead of 160 properties were down about 80 properties that are still in close proximity to some of the flooding conditions, but the flood depths will be a lot lower,” Chris Russ with Strand Associates said.
Collignon said it would be difficult to alleviate the entire neighborhood from the flooding issue.
Part of the restructuring will include upsizing parts of the York ditch that starts in the middle of the neighborhood underneath Carter Road and discharges out by Kroger on Starlite Road. Some of the improvements include expanding the culvert at Ellis Avenue.
Due to the meeting only being a work session, there was no decision made by City officials toward the implementation.
