Public hears Findlay flood control ideas - Tuesday, September 29, 2009 | Courier Electronic Edition

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Tuesday, September 29, 2009

Public hears Findlay flood control ideas

By JOY BROWN

STAFF WRITER

An eastern diversion channel, coupled with a series of flood walls and earthen levees along the Blanchard River, could alleviate Findlay's flood problems, according to officials from the city, county and Army Corps of Engineers.

The flood control proposals, which could cost $100 million, are the first to be presented after nearly two years of study, according to officials at a meeting held Monday at Winebrenner Theological Seminary.

The ideas were derived from cooperative engineering work and research, conducted by local experts and the Army Corps, that updated a 1962 Army Corps flood reduction study never implemented.

Northwest Ohio Flood Mitigation Partnership President Tony Iriti said the options are to be viewed as a starting point to a solution.

Public meetings to gather opinions will be held before the year's end. Plans are expected to solidify a year from now, with potential project design in 2011 and construction beginning in 2012.

The suggestions offered Monday night are expected to undergo several alterations, not only through the public vetting process, but from other ongoing studies that could change the scope of work that can be done.

For instance, a hydraulics and hydrology study, examining how water flows in the Blanchard River watershed, is expected to be finalized in November and could put a crimp on some proposals.

An endangered mussel species, if found in the river, would prevent habitat disturbance where they live.

Other factors like historic buildings, Native American archaeological sites, and development at the former Brandman tire dump site could also alter ideas.

Iriti said preliminary flood control options also will be presented soon for Ottawa, which has its own unique geographical challenges.

Meanwhile, residents are getting a glimpse of what Findlay could look like if steps are taken to rein in the Blanchard River, and Eagle and Lye creeks, which have contributed to flooding in the city.

Officials are proposing an eastern diversion channel that would redirect water flow coming from Eagle Creek to the south and Lye Creek to the southeast. The channel, a dry ditch, would also have a levee running parallel with it.

The alignment would start at Eagle Creek, south of the University of Findlay English Equestrian Farm on Township 204, and curve northeast. Just north of Ohio 568, the ditch would veer west and intersect with the river at Bright Road. (See map, page A9).

Although Iriti said shallow bedrock would make it more expensive, a western diversion channel and accompanying levee also remains as a second option.

The western channel would start at Eagle Creek near Township 49, west of U.S. 68. It would go west and curve to the northwest near Township 67. The ditch would meet Aurand Run to the east of the National Lime & Stone quarry that is north of County Road 313; follow that tributary to Ohio 12, west of Hancock County 139; and then head north, dumping into the Blanchard River near Township 89, west of Liberty-Benton Middle School. (See map, page A9).

"The idea is to slow it down and store it somehow," said Iriti of the diversions. "If it goes east, all it would do is change the timing" of water getting to Ottawa, he said.

Hancock County Engineer Steve Wilson said there is also potential for retention areas, like reservoirs, that would hold water south of a diversion channel.

In the city, officials envision mostly flood walls from Bright Road west to the Norfolk Southern Railroad bridge that is west of North Main Street. (See map, page A8).

Five earthen levees are also suggested for that stretch, the largest of them on the south riverbank south of the Findlay Country Club.

Four levees would be west of Riverside Park, including two staggered along the north bank, and two along the south.

More levees could be placed west of Interstate 75, the largest along the south bank at Hancock County 140.

Along with the walls and levees are ideas for scattered storm water detention ponds, with pump stations, in areas now vacant.

Iriti said planners foresee simply barricading the Cory Street and North Main Street bridges during floods rather than raising them.

"We are not trying to build any Taj Mahals," said Iriti, but recreation, storm water treatment, aesthetics and economic development are being considered.

At Riverside Park, officials say a potential flood wall could be built at the south side of the pool, and an earthen mound through the rest of the park. "The idea is that most wouldn't know it's for flood protection," said Iriti.

Another flood wall east of Main Street, north of the river, would protect a warehouse that officials think has economic development potential. More scenic river views would draw business downtown.

North of Rawson Park, where the former wastewater treatment plant was located, could be used for treating storm water, which the Environmental Protection Agency will eventually mandate, Iriti said. That space is not in the flood plain because of a short levy built there for the old plant.

A levee around Swale Park could have some seating built into it, and also provide a protected spot for outdoor festivals and events, said Iriti.

Iriti said the intent is to not have Findlay's flood control projects look like Fremont's, with imposing concrete walls. So officials want as few of those as possible within the city limits in favor of levees, which can be curved into the natural landscape, are cheaper and offer easily-constructed recreation opportunities like bike paths on top of them. Streets can also be built on them.

Findlay Engineer Brian Hurt said walls and levees would need to be built no matter which direction a creek diversion channel takes. A channel "may lower (flood) heights, but we'd still have a significant amount of flow coming from the Blanchard River," he said.

Phil Berkeley, a senior planning chief for the Army Corp's Buffalo district, said the Findlay proposal would cost about $100 million.

About $25 million would be needed to buy land, which the federal government will not help pay for, Berkeley said.

A portion of a $3 million state grant received in August is being used to buy property in Findlay and Ottawa. On Monday, Iriti said about 19 properties north of the North Main Street bridge are "under contract" to be bought, and that by the end of the year, demolition of some of the buildings will have begun.

Much of the final cost for any flood-reduction effort will be determined by the level of flood protection the city wants, said Iriti.

If the Army Corps determines projects are economically viable, according to its formulas, the federal government would pay for up to 65 percent.

Hurt said the Corps' 1962 study determined a cost/benefit ratio that allowed for the plan to be taken to the U.S. Congress for approval and funding, and he said this updated study should encounter no roadblocks when damage from floods since then is taken into consideration.

Findlay and Hancock County governments have been setting aside money for study and construction costs, and hope two tax increases will be approved by voters in November that would generate more.

The Partnership recently helped secure $3 million from the state, and more state and federal grants would be sought to help offset local costs.

Berkeley said even if other municipalities like Ottawa choose not to move forward with flood projects, Findlay still could.

"Findlay alone is OK or Ottawa alone is OK. They're separable projects right now. They don't depend on each other," said Berkeley.

But Hurt emphasized "there has to be a political solution to pay for it. There has to be long-term planning to finance the project. This will not be a one-time payment and then go away. It will need constant maintenance."

Iriti called the timing of the preliminary plans "monumental," because the Corps has stepped outside its traditional operating methods to work with officials on simultaneous studies.

Partnership officials said such studies usually take five years to complete, and the Corps has told them things have been expedited by more than a year.

Over the next year, three consulting firms will also be helping officials develop a definitive flood control plan for Findlay.

They will include URS Corp., a San Francisco-based engineering design company contracted by the Corps, which will help gather information from residents and entities like the Federal Emergency Management Agency and Ohio Department of Natural Resources; Kinzelman Kline and Gossman, a Cincinnati urban design firm that will focus on downtown projects; and Findlay-based Rooney-Clinger-Murray architects, which will be communicating with "stakeholders" like GreaterFindlay Inc. and the University of Findlay.

"The bottom line is, we should not have the problems that we had in August 2007" if such measures, or options similar to them, are implemented, said Iriti.

Brown: 419-427-8496,

Send an e-mail to Joy Brown

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13 Comments (2 pages)

Latest comments listed first.

ron wrote:

joe the dummer

The biggest lesson here is to buy flood insurance

Thursday, November 19, 2009 10:09:57 AM

Bill wrote:

river

I am not from this area. I moved here from Cleveland when I got married. I have to say though there are two constants I have seen in the 6 yrs I've lived here. First the river is going to flood at some point every year. Second no matter what happens good old Iriti will be in the spot light somehow. How much more development are we going to allow before dealing with storm runoff? how many more pumping stations are we going to build to dump more neighborhood runoff into the Blanchard?

Thursday, November 19, 2009 2:31:52 AM

T.y. wrote:

more b.s.

Just another big project led by Toni "bolagna" Iriti. Waste, waste waste, that's all you poeple ever do, time and money! So when the walls go up, somewhere down river, someone else's land gets flooded even more, but what the heck, it wasn't your land!

Tuesday, November 10, 2009 1:06:23 AM

Citizen wrote:

Scott Mastrocinque

I think you are pretty much right on. There has been enough mismanaged tax dollars without spending millions for studies. If they are not going to clean and widen the river, stop wasting our money on studies. Let's hope people see through this nonsense and Vote NO on these taxes.

Tuesday, September 29, 2009 8:36:28 PM

Scott Mastrocinque wrote:

Azrael...

If you think that $54 million worth of school levy is expensive, just wait until you see the bill for $100+ million dollars worth of flood mitigation plus ongoing maintenance costs! In addition, I think that you would be hard-pressed to find a line item accounting of what has been taken in/saved to date versus what has been spent with regard to flood mitigation. Granted, it's one of those "sounds good" phrases, "flood mitigation", but the reality is less than fulfilling so far.

Tuesday, September 29, 2009 7:08:42 PM

GregL wrote:

Just buy the low buildings?

It is a little crazy to just build walls and expect flood waters to fit between them. Walls by design reduce the area that flood waters can spead into. They will make the height of a flood higher and put new areas in danger.

Much of Findlay (including many blocks of downtown) is too low and should never have been built on. It should not be defended with walls. It should be turned into a park or similar green space that can flood every 5 to 10 years and no one will care.

Since it appears we will be spending 100 million plus, would it make better sense to spend most of it on just buying effected land/buildings and perhaps lowering the low land even lower? That would provide water storage and better flow during a flood.

By sacraficing the lowest land we would protect properties that just barely flooded and slow water to downsteam communities.

Also, What happens when (not if) ANY of these new walls fails or the next flood goes just 6 inches too high?

Tuesday, September 29, 2009 6:38:51 PM

Azrael wrote:

Thanks Joy....

Joy,

Even though I do apreciate the response regarding what is hoped to be collected if the tax requests pass in November and what has been given to us in grant form for buying properties and additional studies, it is however, not relevent (in my eyes) to what I origionaly asked:

What, so far, has been set aside (or better yet, saved) in order to pay towards the costs associated with any flood mitigation measures that will be undertaken? Not buying properties or additional studies paid for by a grant, but true construction of barriers/rentention ponds/any other devices being proposed.

I would like to think that since the flood we knew that eventually, one day there would be costs involved with any mitigation projects, that our elected officals would have had enough foresight in order to start saving for said projects.

And considering that taxpayers would need to burden these costs, then I'm asking a reasonable question that others just might like to know.

If the Courier hasn't asked this of our elected officals...why hasn't it? I would imagine that while reporting the costs of what all this will be, that we'd ALSO ask what has been saved to date...

Tuesday, September 29, 2009 5:38:18 PM

Joy Brown wrote:

Flood money

Azrael, I wrote a flood funding story that was printed Aug. 14. In it, the Partnership said $50,000 each has been collected so far from Findlay and Ottawa for general investigation studies in those towns. Findlay and Ottawa have pledged a total of $250,000 each toward those studies.

Also in August, the state sent a $3 million grant, to be used to buy property and pay for studies.

City officials have said they will set aside $600,000 for flood control if the half percent income tax increase passes. If the county's one half percent sales tax increase is approved, about $2 million a year over the next 10 years will go toward flood control, the commissioners have said. Both political entities say these funding mechanisms are necessary.

Partnership officials have said whatever is not acquired via taxes and grants would probably be collected through property assessments for flood projects construction, maintenance and operating costs. Assessments could be likely no matter what, because there is still expected to be some sort of gap, the size of which will depend on the size and scope of projects.

Tuesday, September 29, 2009 4:11:24 PM

Scott Mastrocinque wrote:

I should be in the ridiculous and expensive "study" business.

Just the other day, I wrote online ----- "FLOOD MITIGATION - Money, Money, Money, Study, Study, Study, Meeting, Meeting, Meeting, Talk, Talk, Talk, and the ever present, Tony Iriti - Collectively, what a joke. It does not take a genius to know that there are only THREE (count them, three) ways to alleviate flooding of a river. 1. REDUCE THE AMOUNT OF WATER ROUTED TO THE RIVER - You can put less water into the river, but in our circumstances, given that our street drainage system (and most everybody else's around here)treats the Blanchard as the great drain water toilet, and drains to the Blanchard, this is not possible. 2. DREDGE/LEVY - Enlarge the river in both width and depth so that it can hold more water as it passes along, without overspilling its banks in critical areas, like cities. 3. DIVERT AND OR DAM - You can reroute the river to a new location, bypassing the city entirely and providing for a flood plain in an area away from the city structures and homes. NOW HAVING SAID THIS - All the studies, and all the Corps of Engineers in the world, aren't going to find out any other solution besides one of these three! I'd be willing to wager on this one. Furthermore, putting gobs of new sales tax money into an account for "flood mitigation" isn't going to solve the problem either. It's just going to mismanage taxpayer monies again for useless nonsense. " ----- What a surprise! I'm thrilled that we're going to waste even more taxpayer money to have even more studies to determine if there are any other options (only 1, REDUCE, and that isn't possible). This dog and pony show would be comical and entertaining if it weren't for all of the taxes and monies being asked for/spent on it. The best part of it is all the obstacles which will now jump up, like "an endangered mussel species", and "other factors like historic buildings, Native American archaeological sites, and development at the former Brandman tire dump site", and that "shallow bedrock would make it more expensive" thing... Naturally! Oh, and don't forget the "constant maintenance" (read: Permanent Taxes!) to continue to pay for this forever. I just can't wait to see how this one turns out. One thing's for sure, the bureaucracy will waste a boat load of taxpayer money and accomplish nothing in the process. As they say, The Show Must Go On!

Tuesday, September 29, 2009 2:04:01 PM

Matt wrote:

JimZ

Wow a normal person posted on the Courier's site.

Tuesday, September 29, 2009 1:05:32 PM

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News Briefs Work scheduled on Findlay streets
Findlay's Main Street, northbound, will be reduced at times to one lane between 8 a.m. and 5 p.m. for waterline connection.

Main Street will not be accessible from East Lincoln Street. Lincoln Street will be closed to through traffic from South Main Street to South Blanchard Street from 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. for continued improvement work. Access to local businesses and residents only will be maintained.

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OTTAWA -- After certifying election results on Wednesday, the Putnam County Board of Elections has announced a recount will be required for the Union Township trustee race, according to Deputy Director Shelly Burkhart.

The recount will be completed on Wednesday at the county elections board office, 336 E. Main Street, Ottawa.

Incumbent Daniel R. Ellerbrock has secured his position on the board, earning 685 votes. However the remaining trustee spot will require a recount as Gery P. Wurth earned 598 votes and Mark J. Kahle collected 601 votes, according to official results.

An automatic recount is necessary if the margin is within one-half of 1 percent of total votes cast, according to state law.

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Forest Lake Drive, between Marion Township 237 and Indian Lake Drive/Forest Lane, will be closed today for a pipe installation.

The road is expected to open by 5 p.m., weather permitting.

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Tuesday, September 29, 2009

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