Seeking solutions in Austintown

By IAN HILL
VINDICATOR STAFF WRITER
AUSTINTOWN -- Wedgewood-area residents want township and Mahoning County officials to solve flooding problems in their neighborhood.
"I hope to hear that they have some kind of solution, that they're going to help," said Chuck Winebold, who is preparing to move into a Selkirk Avenue home.
Charlotte Ingalls of New Road said she will work to organize a mid-September meeting between residents and county and township officials to discuss solutions to flooding. No date, time or location has been set for the meeting.
Trustee Bo Pritchard said that he believes something could be done to address the area's flooding problems.
"The issue is, who does it and who pays for it?" Pritchard said.
Ingalls and Winebold were among about 20 Wedgewood-area residents who met Monday night at Lucianno's restaurant on South Raccoon Road to discuss concerns about flooding. Many of the residents said their homes were damaged by flooding last month.
Concerned residents
Wayne Webb of Ayrshire Drive said he had about a foot of water in his garage even though he had piled sandbags in front of his house. Webb also said that sewage flowed into his basement during the floods.
"You look out the front door, and it looks like a river," he said. "You would think you're in an ocean, a boat that just sank. Every time it rains, you're terrified."
Both Webb and his Ayrshire Drive neighbor, Mike Emerick, said flooding in their homes was caused by water flowing from New Road down Yolanda Drive and onto their street. They said they believe the township or county can prevent future flooding by improving storm sewers on New Road.
Alice Gallo, also of Ayrshire Drive, said she spends two days cleaning debris off of her property after it floods. She said her flooding problems are caused by water running off the parking lot of a local church, as well as water coming into her yard from nearby Woodside Lake.
Recommendations
Several residents at the meeting said they were frustrated because they did not know who is responsible for addressing problems with the lake, which was created when an earthen dam was built to block off a section of Factory Run.
Records from the county auditor show the dam and most of the lake are owned by former county Probate Judge Clifford Woodside and his wife.
Both Woodside and his wife, however, died in the 1960s. County records show that taxes on the property have been delinquent since 1969 and that the total delinquent tax bill is $21,357.
Residents at Monday's meeting said they want a blockage in a dam drainage pipe to be removed, and that they would like the dam to be lowered to increase the flow in Factory Run.
Township Administrator Michael Dockry said township road workers have been asked to try to remove the pipe blockage. Township crews also are working to remove a fallen tree that is blocking Factory Run near New Road.
Pritchard said residents have reported damage to about 50 township homes as a result of last month's floods. That's down from 1992, when residents reported damage to about 270 homes because of floods, he said.
Pritchard said fewer homes were damaged this year because the township and county have worked to address flooding problems that came to light in 1992.
hill@vindy.com