Hal Alvord says dredging and regrading the Fitch pond will fix the flooding on Olmstead Place. Flood victim Diane Cece disagrees. And thus the debate about the allocation of a $333,900 engineering contract towards fixing flooding problems became a debate on what is causing the flooding. Except the news coverage didn’t get into the details of that, so we are left with this, from The Hour:

“We’ve got to put together a (request for proposals). Then we’ve got to get the responses. Then we’ve got to shortlist (the responses). Then we’ve got to interview. Now you’ve pushed the design and engineering off a year,” Alvord said. “Our recommendation, as staff, is Tighe & Bond knows the (drainage) system better than anybody else. They’re ready now. They’ve already started the process, and this is the best price you’re going to get.”

Last year, Tighe & Bond performed a $120,000 study of flooding in the four areas discussed Tuesday night, as well as for East Avenue; Silvermine Avenue at Mary Austin Place; Burlington Drive and Burlington Court; Noah’s Lane Extension; Meadowbrook Lane and Fullmar Lane; and Bouton Street.

“I just want to get these people’s problems solved and get this done. It’s a good schedule and it seems to hit on everything, and delays are going to mean forever,” said committee member Douglas E. Hempstead.

For Olmstead Place, the work entails dredging and regrading Fitch Pond, a half-acre retention pond at the end of the street, and raising the berm to increase storm-water storage capacity. In addition, the pond outlet would be replaced as would 800 feet of existing pipes, according to Tighe & Bond.

Cece believes that the pond is not the primary culprit behind flooding on her street.

Alvord said approval by the Norwalk Conservation Commission, the city’s regulatory body concerning wetlands, is driving the Olmstead Place/Fitch Street timetable. That timetable calls for Tighe & Bond to design the corrective measures by December, the city to put the project out to bid in January, and construction occurring in February and March. The Conservation Commission, Alvord said, issues permits for construction in wetlands areas only during winter months, Alvord said.

“I’ve waited 44 years down there, so I guess another year isn’t going to kill me,” said Olmstead Place resident Dee Arnone, referring to the targeted spring 2008 construction.

For the Buckingham Place/ Lockwood Lane area, improvements include replacing 2,100 feet of drainage pipe, including the storm drain trunk pipe lying immediately north of Buckingham Place, as well as the pipe outfall at the Norwalk River with larger pipe, according to Tighe & Bond.

Because Buckingham Place/ Lockwood Lane drains directly into Norwalk Harbor, a permit from the state Department of Environmental Protection is needed. Tighe & Bond has begun discussions with the DEP for “putting a bigger pipe outfall into the harbor.” The firm would have design work 50 percent complete by December. Construction would start after July 1, 2008, provided money is allocated in the city’s 2007-08 capital budget, Alvord said.

Tuesday night’s discussion came less than 48 hours after the remnants of Tropical Storm Barry doused the region, and flood-prone East Norwalk residents again kept watch over storm drains in their neighborhoods.

“Luckily we didn’t flood. I don’t know if we came close or not, but we were okay,” said Buckingham Place resident Larry Ruttenberg after the rains had let up Monday. “Of course, most of us on my street were up every hour on the hour (Sunday night), looking outside, making sure we were good.

“So sleep was something we didn’t get. But at least we didn’t get flooded,” said Ruttenberg, who also attended Tuesday night’s meeting of the Public Works Committee.

source: The Hour, Flood Fix proposal moves to full council, by Robert Koch, June 5, 2007