WARREN Couple tired of flooding wants action from city

A retention pond that used to act as a reservoir was filled in, the couple says.
By DENISE DICK
VINDICATOR TRUMBULL STAFF
WARREN -- An Eastland Avenue couple tired of neighborhood flooding says they just want what they paid for.
Greg and Helen Capito moved into their home in 1956, and contend they never had any flooding problems until 2001. They believe the problem is caused by the Country Club Estates, where construction started in 2000.
One of the retention ponds on the property was filled in when construction started, Greg Capito said. That pond was between Catalpa and South streets.
"That used to be our reservoir," he said. "It was for flood control."
Water flows through a 33-inch storm sewer line that runs across private property beginning at Perkinswood Boulevard.
Where water goes
That line empties into two 27-inch culvert pipes and runs under South Street into a retention pond. Water can flow over a dam into another retention pond and under East Market Street into a pond, called Country Club Pond.
But the only retention pond left south of South Street is one for the villas development, which the lines through the Capitos' neighborhood don't reach. They say that's the problem.
The Capito home also flooded in 2002 and twice this summer and their insurance company dropped them.
"You're afraid to go anywhere because you don't know what you'll find when you get back," he said.
They lost cabinetry, furniture, carpeting and toys from when their daughter was a child during those flooding episodes, Helen Capito said.
"All we want the city to do is give us what we paid for," her husband said.
He still has the receipt from August 1959, when he paid $948.45, his portion of the cost for a street and storm sewer for the neighborhood.
But instead of connecting the neighborhood to a city sewer line, residents are served by the line that runs through private property, under homes and garages.
"We paid for the street and for the sewer to be put in, and we didn't get it," Helen Capito said. "I call that fraud."
The couple had a backflow preventer and a sump pump installed last year. They plan to install a second sump pump to see if that helps.
Clogged up
City workers drained one of the ponds north of South Street last week and found one of the two 24-inch culvert pipes wasn't flowing at all and the second was filled halfway with silt. Mayor Hank Angelo suspects that's part of the problem.
But the mayor says that older homes in the neighborhood have footer drains that lead into the sanitary sewer system. Some homes have downspouts leading to the footer drains.
Country Club Estates and the Villas, which were developed by the Giltz Company of Canton, are served by a closed system, meaning that footer drains from homes lead into the storm system.
Capito plans to make a presentation at a citizens group meeting at 7 p.m. tonight at First Baptist Church, Surrey Road Southeast.
Angelo won't be there.
The mayor said he's still gathering information and wants to be able to answer questions when he meets with residents. The information won't be in a presentable form in time for tonight's meeting.
denise.dick@vindy.com