Valpo to develop 10-year flood fix plan

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BY PHIL WIELAND
pwieland@nwitimes.com
219.548.4352 | Monday, October 20, 2008 | (1 comment(s))

VALPARAISO | If you're a city resident and have ever had flooding problems, the city wants to hear from you.

The city is sending out about 12,000 surveys with the next water bills asking residents to describe their flooding problems, the suspected origin, whether it came up through the floor drains, through the walls or in through the windows and doors, how often the problem occurs and what steps they've taken to alleviate the problem on their own.

"This is the last big piece in assessing the nature of the problems and the challenges," Mayor Jon Costas said. "Within 30 days of getting this information, I want to have an assessment of the need and a prioritization of projects going out 10 years."

He said that information will be presented to the public at community meetings to get feedback on what residents think of the plans and priorities.

"We want to be pretty methodical," Costas said. "We have to look out longer with our flooding plans. We've done this before, and, while the priorities might change somewhat, they will stay mostly the same. We want to build on what we've done in the past and improve on it."

The city's stormwater engineer Matt Kras said he hopes to have the surveys returned by the end of November so the long-range plan can be ready to present to the people by the end of the year or early in 2009. Residents can also fill out the survey online at the city's Web site, http://www.ci.valparaiso.in.us.

"We want the public's input at the point where we are deciding on the priority of each project," Kras said. "There are some issues that are more of an emergency that we need to do something quickly. Others we can hold off on, so we need to prioritize."

Right now the city has a list of 50 to 60 stormwater projects that were identified by the city's Stormwater Management Board before it was absorbed into the city's Utilities Board earlier this year. While some of the projects have been designated as being a top priority, most have not been given any sort of ranking.

"We are re-examining what has been done and what is to be done, and we will do a new priority list based on the new projects we find as a result of the survey and the old ones that still exist," Kras said. "We were concentrating on problems where we put in trunk lines, like Union Street, Campbell Street and Valparaiso Street."

The 11-inch deluge over the Sept. 13-14 weekend is forcing the city to take a new look at things. That rain caused flooding problems all over the city. After the priority list is prepared, the next step will be figuring out how to pay for it, which Kras said will be the toughest part.

The city has talked about increasing the $3-a-month stormwater fee, which is among the lowest in the area, as one alternative in addition to seeking grants and other sources.

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Valpo Mom wrote on Oct 20, 2008 3:08 AM:

" Thanks, Mr. Mayor! What about us Valpo citizens who are outside of city limits who don't get a water bill but saw more water than a lot of the town put together? What are we supposed to do? I know...fill out the form online and HOPE you see it!
Thanks! "

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