The Utilities Committee met 11/12/2024. One of the items on the agenda was a request to approve a $300,000 single-source contract to Brown and Caldwell to perform a stormwater evaluation on the Northland Creek and Bellaire watersheds.
This generated a large amount of public feedback from residents on Viola Street who experienced catastrophic flooding in July of this year. They fully supported the study and believed that neglect by the city of ongoing issues in the area was what resulted in the severe damage some of the homes experienced during the flooding incident in July.
The committee voted unanimously to recommend the contract for approval.
I’ve prepared a transcript of the discussion for download:
This study would cover a sizeable portion of the north part of the city, between Hwy 41, Hwy 441, Mason Street, and Franklin Street.
Eight members of the public spoke at the meeting. All but one of them lived on Viola Street and experienced severe flooding in July. In some cases, their homes were severely damaged by multiple feet of water filling their houses and sewage backing into their homes. In one case, the flooding caused two “car door sized” holes in a home’s foundation. None of the damage or loss of property was covered by insurance.
Residents generally faulted the city and poor planning and maintenance on the part of the city for this flooding. They perceived Northland Avenue to be a “concrete river” down which water flowed and then flooded into other areas.
Rachel, a Viola Street resident, told the committee, “The city had has previously acknowledged that storm water is a recurring issue and will persist if not addressed. […] A similar study previously conducted in the city of Appleton revealed that the current storm water systems are not sufficient for levels of rainfall associated with even a 25-year storm, much less a 100-year storm. I understand the previous study suggested a solution that was financially unrealistic for the city. However, if left unresolved, the city is choosing to allow this private nuisance to exist, and this is simply unacceptable.”
A couple different residents referenced the fact that once city crews came out to clear the drained in the area, the water receded fairly rapidly. Residents also tied the removal of manhole covers by city employees to the backing up of sewage into homes because the two events seemed to coincide.
The residents now also lived in fear of a future flooding event happening and viewed rainfall with a degree of worry that they previously had not.
The residents supported the study being done, but they also were frustrated with the city and the lack of responsiveness by city staff to their needs. They were told that the city was going to furnish dumpsters, but no dumpsters were forthcoming. Additionally, they did not think city staff had been responsive to their questions and concerns. [Indeed, a meeting between residents and city officials to discuss relief efforts was cancelled on the advice of counsel after some residents indicated they were considering taking legal action.]
The committee members and staff did not address any of the concerns the residents raised about the potential fault of the city in the flooding that occurred in July.
Alderperson Chris Croatt (District 14), the alderperson for the district where the flooding had occurred asked what the timeline was for conducting the study and then getting to the point of implementing some of the study recommendations. Public Works Deputy Director Pete Neuberger did not have a definitive timeline. He said that if the item was approved at the 11/20/2024 Common Council meeting, then staff could have an initial meeting with the consultant in December, but “It could be many months by the time that we start to identify alternatives.” He did indicate that they would be providing progress reports to the Utilities Committee.
Director of Public Works Laura Jungwirth commented on the reference that residents had made regarding a previous study on stormwater issues in the area. The said that study had been very broad in scope and the solution it had offered to flooding issues had been extremely costly. The solution offered had essentially been to lay one large pipe underground to dump flood water from that area into the river. The study did not break down on a neighborhood level what other utilities were already in the ground or if there even was enough room to fit a large pipe down there with all of the other underground infrastructure. It was not deemed a feasible alternative.
This new study would provide a breakdown of neighborhoods and see if there were solutions that could be implemented on a smaller scale. She expected that the study would provide many alternatives and many different project options.
The committee voted unanimously to recommend the contract to conduct the study be approved.
[I really feel for the residents and can understand their frustration. The issues that they are dealing with are related to core functions of a city government. On a most basic level, maintenance of public utilities is one of only a handful of responsibilities a city government is tasked with as laid out in Chapter 62 of Wisconsin’s State Statutes. (https://docs.legis.wisconsin.gov/statutes/statutes/62) Trying to avert problems like what happened on Viola Street is the job of the city in a way that many of the other things city government does are not, so when infrastructure fails as severely as it did in this case with such devastating consequences to residents, its something that should concern the entire city and not just the residents most personally impacted.]
View full meeting details and video here: https://cityofappleton.legistar.com/MeetingDetail.aspx?ID=1229705&GUID=E2F80741-2F94-424E-A16A-F13C86130A59
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