03/12/1996 Minutes - Laserfiche WebLink

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i- • for the past 100 years might not be entirely accurate; however, there has been nothing issued by auy of the government agencies that they work with that has given new guidelines and they have no new data to design by. He noted that they have made the assu.mption that the sewers that are dumping into this basin can handle all the water and get it to the basin immediately. The system is designed for a 5 year storm. He is not aware of any change in industry standards in terms of design. The 5 year storm is based on Cuyahoga Cou.nty's rainfall and those figures have a safety factor built into it. Mr. Deichmann advised that the city uses a document called the Uniform Standards that was put together by Cuyahoga County, Cleveland, Northeast Ohio Regional Sewer District, and the Municipal Engineer's Association of Northeast Ohio of which he, is a member. Also, he was a member of the committee which recently updated the Uniform Standards Code and rewrote the standards, they did consider various factors, and they did not modify the rainfall charts. Mr. Margevicius offered to share the data that was published by the U. S. Department of Commerce and the National Weather Service with the city and the developer. He noted that if the rainfall exceeds the 5 year storm and it floods out some places, that is considered an acceptable risk. He does not believe that is what it should be designed for, it would not be that expensive, and it would protect, not only this development, but all the homes in the neighborhood. He reiterated that he has not seen all the data and if it is designed to that conservative a level, it may be fine the way it is, but based on what data he has, he believed it was too small. Mr. Margevicius advised Mr. Brennan that he did take the additional capacity into accou.ut. Mr. Brennan asked if this were expanded, would it protect the neighbors. Mr. Margevicius clarified that it would not take a large increment in volume to accommodate a much larger storm. Mrs. Spaulding, a resident, questioned if the drainage from Sharon Drive and Carriage Lane were included, or did they just consider the statistics from the two new developments. Mr. Sheehe responded that they included the entire region including Sharon and Carriage in the drainage calculations, the pond is designed as a regional retention basin includ.ing their development and the existing hard surface that is built and the discharge is lower than what is coming out now. He believed that this would be a positive thing for the area to store water that is not being stored well now. Mrs. Spaulding stated that she understood that this open retention was being allowed, even though it was not normally the standard of the city, because the basin would be designed to alleviate the flooding problems in that entire area. Based on this agreement, she believed that every effort should be made to make sure the size of the retention does just that, even if it means increasing the size and taking the necessary time to do it. Secondly, she would like planning commission to take some steps to make sure that no water drains from the Lorain Road development until this retention is completed in order to save a few wet basements. Mr. Lekan, a resident, commented that'when everyone agreed to the open retention since it would be the best for the area, and the residents would like it to be right for the whole neighborhood. He pointed out that his property backed up to the pond, and originally they had talked about a 15 foot tree line, some mounding, vegetation, and a more aesthetically pleasing fence. He believed that it might be difficult for him to sell lus property if there were a rusting fence behind his "property. He appreciated the fact that the storm line that comes from Carriage and runs into Sharon's will be separated as he had requested in a previous letter. Ms. Laurence, a 28 year resident, believes that as a North Olmsted resident should have some say in what goes in next to her property. She does not believe that the residents should be pushed into sometlung until they were sure that there would be no water. She has had water problems ever since Clague Towers was built even though there was a field next to her. Now the field will be developed and she does not lcnow what is going to happen. She explained the fear and anxiety that she has lived with in the last few years and believed that she could never sell her home with the existing water problems. She would like some assurance that she will not have water from the new homes. Mr. Sheehe reiterated that the retention system is very large and has some additional capacity, and the Sharon and Carriage flows have been split, there will be a relief system in the sanitary sewer so there are options other than backing up into basements. He believed that all these things have been worked out with the city engineer and 5