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Canfield trustees hear about flooding complaints
CANFIELD
Theodore Alexander said he’s considering putting his Pebble Beach Drive home up for sale next year, if storms and flooding don’t relent.
“I can’t do anything – it’s a mighty mess,” he said.
“People shouldn’t have to live this way for God sakes. ... It’s not like we live on the Mississippi River.”
The weekend brought more heavy rains to the township, and residents brought their pain to township trustees this week.
Alexander suggested moving the nearby detention pond to a higher elevation to keep his drive from getting washed out.
Trustee Marie Cartwright said officials are considering new stormwater detention installation there, but must first seek out an engineer to determine the right location. She said that Alexander’s home – which he inherited from his father – and his neighbors’ homes all stand on a floodplain.
“Unfortunately, those houses down there should never have been built in a floodplain area,” she said. “Now we’re trying to deal with a situation we’ve inherited – we inherited it; you inherited it.”
Alexander said he feels climate change is ultimately to blame for the area’s recent deluging weather systems and despaired municipalities’ inability to respond to it.
Much like their counterparts in Boardman Township who have aired frustrations with their trustees’ reactions to floods in recent weeks, some Canfield residents said Tuesday they want a plan for the future.
“What are you going to do about 500-year storms … when the 100-year storms are becoming commonplace?” said Annette El-Hayek, whose basement – a fully livable guest room, replete with a recently remodeled bathroom and working kitchen – is now a complete loss due to recent flooding along Pebble Beach Court.
Trustees urged her to meet with Federal Emergency Management Agency representatives who plan to staff a Disaster Recovery Center from 8:30 a.m. to 7 p.m. Friday, Saturday, Monday and Tuesday at the Boardman Township Administration building, 8299 Market St.
In other business, Rogers recommended trustees reject a planning change for the incoming Millennial Moments residential and housing development near South Palmyra Road and U.S. Route 224, which he said would worsen stormwater runoff in the area – specifically Pheasant Run Drive, he said.
The developers proposed moving the development’s stormwater detention pond away from nearby wetlands, in order to avoid related litigation costs, he said.
“It needs to stay,” Cartwright said.
Trustees also approved requests for $49,700 in funding assistance from ABC Water and Storm Water District to repair stormwater infrastructure along three township drives needed after the May 28 storm: Fairway, Pheasant Run and Cedar Park.
Rogers said the district funding won’t be enough to cover repairs needed along Pebble Beach Drive after the storm. He said officials are awaiting FEMA’s approval for $159,000 in federal assistance that would go toward repairing a 48-inch storm sewer that collapsed.