Dear Editor:
Two recent floods have caused damage to the ice rink and other nearby properties. This needs the city's immediate attention.
Parks Director Phil Stiles reported the flooding was about two feet lower than 5 weeks ago: "We are hoping the clean-up process will go a lot quicker and a lot smoother this go-around."
He's not sure why flash flooding now is a problem.
"We have never had flash flooding that reaches into the ice arena before this year," Stiles said. "We don't know the cause is."
I can tell you what the problem is. Water is stupid; it only knows how to do one thing unless forced otherwise - flow downhill as fast as possible. However, people may have less intelligence than water. How many acres of development have occurred in this drainage basin without regard to changes in run-off characteristics of the surface? Are insufficient, or no storm water regulations in effect that require developers to provide on-site detention? Or, are we "locking the barn door after the horse is gone?"
Consider, a 20 feet swath of land previously in undeveloped turf and woods; now replace that with six feet wide jogging trail and short grass. That change alone doubles run-off rate. Apply that minor change in undeveloped land to replacement by mega-buildings, parking lots, and pavements that have been constructed the past 30 years in this watershed. It is easy to understand why recent severe rainfall caused flooding.
Regardless the future of the ice rink, corrections need to be made - but not with increased tax funding on the general public. Storm water detention obviously should have been a greater priority, but moving forward, it is now imperative. Developers must be required to plan improvements that increase the detention upstream sufficient to reverse the increased run-off.
Short term, we can expect the ice arena to flood at every rainfall event like this, because water knows no better. People who build in food plains should expect floods. Ball fields and the like are acceptable improvements in a flood plain. Buildings are not. So, for the ice rink, relocation may be the best option, but that is not the only structure recently flooded, and insurance companies will soon balk covering damages.
But for sure, we taxpayers should not be required to correct past mistakes of poor, untimely or non-existent planning codes or lax developer scrutiny.