While Jefferson City staff said they are making strides to address stormwater concerns that have plagued the city for years, residents are still experiencing issues with water runoff.
It has been a year since the Jefferson City Council approved $750,000 for additional stormwater crew members and stormwater projects. The money was set aside after residents urged the city to address growing stormwater issues - particularly after two flooding incidents in 2016, when more than 30 homes and the Washington Park Ice Arena flooded.
While $500,000 went toward large stormwater projects, $250,000 went to fund a three-person stormwater crew, along with equipment and supplies.
The city previously did not have a crew that focused solely on stormwater projects, Jefferson City Operation Division Director Britt Smith said. It is making a large impact, he added.
The stormwater crew worked on about 40 sites between November 2017 and September, Smith told the Jefferson City Public Works and Planning Committee on Thursday. As of July 31, the crew had repaired or reconstructed nearly 50 stormwater inlets and structures, installed more than 3,000 feet of pipe, and replaced more than 1,200 feet of curb.
If the city had used contractors for these projects, Smith said, it would have cost well over $750,000.
"I'm very pleased with the work," he told the News Tribune. "I think we definitely got a good bang for our buck."
Since the crew focuses on stormwater projects, Smith said, they can be proactive when fixing stormwater issues.
"Before, we would see a collapsed pipe and fix it," he said. "Now, they see what else can be fixed."
During last week's Public Works and Planning Committee meeting, Smith displayed a map of more than 40 projects the stormwater crew has worked on since November. While many complaints last year came from Ward 4 residents, the dots were spread across the city.
"It's not, 'Fix this inlet and you've solved the stormwater issue for the entire area,'" Ward 3 City Councilman Ken Hussey said. "Stormwater is a much broader issue."
The Public Works Department receives $360,000 from the city's sales tax annually to address stormwater concerns, Public Works Department Director Matt Morasch said previously.
While city staff is making strides, stormwater infrastructure remains a large concern for Jefferson City residents. Josh Ecton lives on Jason Road and begged the Public Works and Planning Committee on Thursday to help address stormwater concerns on his property.
He has a large ditch in his yard where the city maintains stormwater pipes. Flooding wasn't his main concern, though - it was the safety of neighborhood children who like to play in the area.
The city placed two large concrete blocks at the end of the pipe to support the adjacent embankment, but Ecton said these stones are now unstable and a safety risk.
In a heated debate Thursday, Ecton argued city staff should help him install an 18-foot extension onto an existing stormwater pipe that discharges water into the ditch. Ecton thinks this would be cheaper and safer than adding more stones.
He said he would pay for other work to ensure the ditch does not continue to be a safety hazard.
"I'm not asking for the world," Ecton said. "My main thing is a safety concern. It's frustrating because everyone I've spoken to has said, 'No way would I sign that paper for this plan because those blocks aren't going to last.'"
Ecton said he spent more than $3,000 having consultants and individuals look at the stormwater ditch in his yard.
However, city staff said extending the pipe would not address stormwater concerns and would go against city code. Under city code, Morasch and Smith said, the city does not extend the stormwater system - it maintains it.
"It's the same idea if a contractor wants to build a street," Smith told the News Tribune. "They may construct it and hand it over to the city to maintain, but (the contractor) extends the street if they want to."
If city staff were to extend the pipe on Ecton's property, Morasch said, it could set a precedent for future property owners to ask the city to extend pipes on their properties.
City staff suggested adding a concrete end section to the pipe and placing more concrete blocks to support the adjoining yard.
Since the current stones became unstable after a short period of time, Ecton said, he does not believe adding more stones would address the safety concern.
If the city does any work in his yard - whether extending the pipe or placing stone - Ecton said, he wants to ensure it is done in a timely manner and he would not be forgotten.
It is hard to give a direct time when city staff will address the issue, as projects pop up and city staff has to refocus efforts on priority projects, Morasch and Hussey said Thursday. Morasch added he would not send city staff to Ecton's home until they were in agreement on what to do.
"Obviously we're not in agreement. We don't schedule projects until we're in agreement," Morasch said, adding having city staff place stone in the ditch is a "good offer."
"We'll put you in the queue, and you have a pretty good expectation that it'll be done within a year or so," he said.
Eric Weddle's neighborhood at the intersection of Stadium Boulevard and Satinwood Drive was one of the areas at the center of stormwater conversations over the last two years. Since the city approved the $750,000 in August 2017, Weddle told the News Tribune, the city has cleaned out a nearby culvert to help address stormwater concerns in the area.
Weddle said he has not seen any significant flooding in the area but was unsure if that was due to the city's stormwater efforts or lack of rain this spring and summer.
The city "has made strides in identifying areas that need attention relative to the stormwater issue," Weddle added, including selecting his neighborhood as one in need of stormwater improvements.
The city used $500,000 of the $750,000 toward contracting stormwater work. Barr Engineering plans to conduct studies of the Satinwood and Douglas drives areas and suggest possible improvements to its stormwater systems, City Engineer David Bange said.
Barr Engineering also designed plans to replace failing pipes in the Chickadee Road cul-de-sac and Mesa Avenue, potentially this winter, Bange said.
Many of the stormwater projects have been issues for years, Smith and Bange said. Smith remembers hearing the first stormwater complaint for the Mesa area about 15 years ago.
"Hopefully we can keep the funding going, but we will continue to use the sales tax money to keep doing this stormwater projects," Bange said.
The City Council narrowly voted against placing a stormwater fee on the August 2017 ballot in May 2017.
One stormwater issue is that many of the homes in Jefferson City were constructed before the city enacted a stormwater ordinance to govern new properties, Smith and Bange said. Another issue is that every extreme rain event is different, Smith added, leading to flooding in some areas but not in others.
While Weddle appreciates the city is identifying areas in need of improvements, his concern now is new construction, like Capital City High School, and whether his neighborhood will face more stormwater issues from that project.
"When you take away the top layer of ground and you take the trees away and the grass and things like that, there's nowhere for the water to go except just to run down," Weddle said. "So that's a concern. Construction continues and a project like the high school is huge, and there's going to be a ton of runoff from that. And we can only hope being relative to where we are from the high school here in the 4th Ward that that's being addressed. Hopefully that won't be a continued problem within Wears Creek."
Other residents shared the same concerns regarding new construction. A few residents attended Thursday's Jefferson City Planning and Zoning Commission meeting to speak in opposition of two new duplexes proposed for 3410 Shermans Hollow due to fear of increased stormwater runoff.
The commission approved a preliminary PUD plan for two one-story rental residential duplexes, proposed by Steve Lightner with Marketing Specialists Inc. While project consultant Patrick Kremer with Central Missouri Professional Services said the properties would be at a lower grade and stormwater would be directed to Shermans Hollow, residents worried the water would flow to the back of the property toward their homes.
"I know what he said, that it would go down Shermans Hollow, (but) I'm here to tell you, no, it doesn't," resident Carol Poteat said. "I have been flooded in my home twice because there's no way to handle the water on the back side."
City staff ensures new projects meet or exceed the city's stormwater code by making sure they have big enough pipes and stormwater basins, Bange said.
Since Jefferson City has not experienced an abundance of rain this year, Weddle said, he hopes the city will not lose sight of stormwater issues.
"I hope that the issue hasn't fallen flat - out of sight, out of mind kind of thing," he said. "I hope they are continuing to work on stormwater issues and improving that citywide, but then also being proactive in making sure that the construction companies that are doing these kind of projects are held to task to making sure there is adequate or even better than adequate storm runoff basins for the amount of stormwater that's going to be created."