Councilwoman says council members not understanding stormwater drainage need

Grand Island City Councilwoman Peg Gilbert is hoping her council colleagues give serious thought to putting $250,000 into the budget to help with stormwater drainage.

A proposal she made last week was postponed to the 7 p.m. Tuesday council meeting. It calls for the city's capital improvement fund to be increased by $250,000 so that a new stormwater drainage pipe could be installed along Stolley Park Road east of Blaine Street.

Some council members felt the project was a little too select on the area it would benefit.

"This is not just a Brentwood (subdivision) thing," Gilbert said over the weekend. "If (the drainage) doesn't work at the front end it doesn't work all along the line."

Grand Island Public Works Director Steve Riehle said the new pipe should help reduce groundwater tables in the Brentwood and Parkview subdivisions as well as homes along LaMar and Arthur. He believes some 1,000 properties would benefit.

"There's a bottleneck west of Blaine Street and appears to be (drainage) capacity east of Blaine Street," Riehle said.

That bottleneck is being created by a 24-inch pipe installed in 1984 as a temporary fix to draining water from Brentwood Lake. Riehle said the original plan based on a 1978 drainage study was for Brentwood Lake water to be channeled south and east to the Wood River, but when that didn't happen, the temporary fix was installed to provide a little drainage relief.

That's worked to a point, but heavy rains, such as those this June, overwhelm the system. The 24-inch pipe on the east side of Blaine acts as a restricter that feeds into a 36-inch pipe on the east side and could handle much more water.

The 24-inch pipe is holding stormwater longer than it needs to be held, Riehle said.

"The longer water stands in a detention cell, the more it impacts the groundwater in the vicinity," he said.

Gilbert said the city's water detention cells were meant to hold water and meter it out so no one is inundated, but if the water can't flow out, it creates a new set of problems. Basements flooded with groundwater were a common problem in her ward early this summer.

"This is a bottleneck and it's right at the beginning of the system. That's why it doesn't work," Gilbert said of the detention cells.

Riehle said while the city's 1978 plan called for the water to go south and east to the  Wood River, constructing that project now would cost upwards of $425,000 and include land that is more developed now that it was 30 years ago.

He sees Gilbert's $250,000 proposal as a short-term fix that could become part of a long-term fix for stormwater drainage in Grand Island.

The plan would put a second 24-inch pipe alongside the existing 24-inch pipe.

"I am nervous about the engineering downstream," Riehle said Monday.

He expressed the same concern last week -- a concern that was echoed by other city council members -- particularly those in east Grand Island where the water would be channeled.

Riehle said the drainage pipe ultimately carries out to an area near Fonner Park about one-quarter of a mile west of Stuhr Road.

Money is already in the budget for the $50,000 of engineering and consulting work needed to design the new pipe. Riehle said all the land is already city owned, so no land purchase is required. There's an existing dry detention cell at the corner of Stolley Park Road and Blaine that could be used to help hold water back during heavy rains, he said.

Councilman Mitch Nickerson called last week for a more comprehensive drainage study to be completed.

That's something Riehle said Monday hasn't been done for the entire city. He estimated such a plan would cost in excess of $100,000, but "would make everyone's job easier for planning and prioritizing drainage projects."

Gilbert said tax dollars have been spent citywide on improving drainage. A $350,000 sanitary sewer lift station is being upgraded at Highway 281 and Capital Avenue. The Second Street widening project also includes new drainage for that street into the new Wasmer detention cell.

"We're doing it all over" town, Gilbert said.

If the project is supported, the city will have to come up with the funds. Some councilmembers have suggested a drainage bond be levied, much like what is done in Lincoln.

Gilbert said bonding isn't necessary if the city just reprioritizes its wants -- such as the Heartland Public Shooting Park development and the creation of quiet zones between the Custer and Lincoln Avenue railroad crossings -- for its infrastructure needs.

On the agenda

Other issues before the city council Tuesday include:

n Approving a request for a sand and gravel operation at 3016 N. Webb Road. The 40-acre tract was previously used as a tree farm and would be mined and reshaped into four, 10-acre residential properties. Rod Hooker filed the request for a conditional use permit.

n Approving $43,750 in revolving loan funds from the Community Development Block Grant program to conduct an environmental review of the former Cornhusker Army Ammunition Plant acreage that the Grand Island Area Economic Development Corp. is buying for use as an industrial park.

n Recreating the downtown business improvement district, the South Locust improvement district from Highway 34 north to Stolley Park Road and creating the Second Street improvement district.

n Receiving a tort claim from Jeff Raitt, who alleges his truck was totaled when it was struck by a Grand Island ambulance April 21. Payment for damage to the truck, trailer and liability was $36,900. Raitt also has filed a property damage claim for $20,839 for the downtime it took to replace the truck.

n Approving an interlocal agreement for the Central Nebraska Environmental Complex, a 7,650 square feet facility to be built at the city's Transfer Station at 5050 W. Old Potash Highway and operate as a year-round recycling and household hazardous waste collection site.

The city will submit a construction grant request to the Nebraska Environmental Trust seeking $796,360, which requires a city match of $40,000 cash and $40,000 in land.

n Awarding a contract not to exceed $900,000 to Black and Veatch of Kansas City, Mo., for an anaerobic digestion system for the city's wastewater treatment plant.

n Approving an agreement with the Platte Valley Weed Management Area to control phragmites, a newly designated noxious weed, in the Platte River near the city's water wellfield.