I'll start with my beginning email the morning of Wednesday, August 29 and take you through to today.
From: Jane
Murray
To: Dean Maraldo, US EPA; Barbara VanTil, US EPA ; Sudhir Desai, US EPA; Larry
Essman ; Scott Foster, OH EPA; Fred Snell, OH EPA
Sent:
Wednesday, August 29, 2012 9:44 AM
Subject:
downspout article and retrofits
Good morning:
The
article at this link states that as part of the LTCP, the U.S. EPA is requiring
that certain residents remove their downspouts from their foundation
drains.
"Duncan
said based on the results of the EES study, the U.S. Environmental Protection
Agency (USEPA) has directed the city to implement the downspout disconnection
plan."
I
would appreciate further information and answers to the following:
1.
Did U.S. EPA in fact require this smoke test or did the city do it on its own?
2.
What were the parameters?
3.
Did you or are you going to require similar tests for all other residential and
commercial property, churches, hospitals, retirement centers, etc. in the area
of the city?
4.
If not, why not?
I
removed my downspouts from my foundation drains in 2006. This has no bearing on
my property. I'm merely concerned about fairness to the affected areas. For
some people, this will be a burden. Some properties closely abut driveways
and/or sidewalks causing problems with removal and redirection. Please see
letter sent to Larry & Loretta Essman in August 2001. I ask that Larry send
separate email detailing the cost and other issues for him and include
information on legal action by some area residents. He informed me that they
were successful in fighting the city and, thus, did not remove their drains.
5.
Are you going to require other property owners in the city to retrofit their
properties as well? If not, why not?
Though I have no problem with the requirement, the effect is that residential property owners are being required to "retrofit" their properties. All the residential properties mentioned in the article were built prior to the developments at the hospital, Hill View Retirement Center, Churches, doctors' offices, etc.
In fact, I'm sure engineering studies will prove that the non-residential properties above mentioned contribute even more significantly to the storm water runoff problem that the 63 homes mentioned in the story.
For
example:
- The National Guard Armory on Coles Blvd. Are you requiring that they rebuild that lot and drain to the grass? This lot was all grass until built during the mid-2000s...well after Mr. and Mrs. Essman's compliance command by the city.
- Hill View Retirement Center continues to expand and build more impervious surface. The owners of the Center purchased numerous houses on Sherman Road. They torn them down this summer and are building parking lots. Are you requiring similar run off controls?
- Did the city require runoff controls in how these parking lots are being built? I called the city's engineering office and asked but was told Duncan is now enforcing the city's ordinances on storm water drainage. That gives me serious pause.
- Southern OH Medical Center parking garage on the East side (built in the late 1990s) that has no drainage controls? Laundry, parking lots, buildings on the East Campus on 25th Street? Other parking lots including to doctors' offices on the campus that have no drainage controls? Will you require that all of these be retrofitted?
- The churches on 25th Street?
- The businesses and doctor and other offices on Coles Blvd?
It
is my assertion, I am making and will make in public statements, that all
properties draining to the Lawson's Run system should be required to make
appropriate retrofits. Everyone should share in the burden and the associated
costs commensurate with the size of impervious surface as the key factor.
My
neighbors and I recognize that the U.S. EPA and the OH EPA will act to be fair.
Unfortunately, as the records prove (OH EPA records we have already shared
publicly) the city has consistently acted over the years to blame the victims
and to protect the "major employer" in the city; i.e., the Southern
OH Medical Center.
Thank
you for answers to the above questions. We look forward to working with you on
resolutions to this painful and devastating problem to many residents in
Portsmouth.
Sincerely,
Jane
M. Jane Murray
From: Kevin
W.W. Johnson <kwwj@roadrunner.com>
To: Jane Murray; Maraldo.Dean; Barbara VanTil; Sudhir Desai; Larry Essman ; scott.foster; fred snell
Sent: Wednesday, August 29, 2012 10:04 AM
Subject: Re: downspout article and retrofits
To: Jane Murray; Maraldo.Dean; Barbara VanTil; Sudhir Desai; Larry Essman ; scott.foster; fred snell
Sent: Wednesday, August 29, 2012 10:04 AM
Subject: Re: downspout article and retrofits
Please see City
Ordinance 1319.04 - Grading and Drainage
(e)
Roof and Yard Drainage
..."Connection of any pipe carrying roof water or yard drainage to a
sanitary sewer is prohibited."
This should have been
mentioned at Council and in the paper's review of the LTCP agreement regarding
drainage to the sanitary
sewer system.
Am awaiting Mr. Duncan's
release of information concerning two other near-term projects to alleviate
business and residential
storm drainage into the sewer system.
Many thanks.
Kevin
From: Jane Murray
To: Kevin W.W. Johnson ; Dean Maraldo
; Barbara VanTil ; Sudhir Desai ; Larry
Essman ; scott.foster; fred.snell
Sent: Wednesday, August
29, 2012 10:19 AM
Subject: Re: downspout
article and retrofits
Thank you, Kevin. One of the primary problems in Portsmouth has
been enforcement...or should I say "selective" enforcement
The city adopted significant storm water regulations, too, in 2001 but they have been summarily ignored on purpose by former mayors and their staffs.
Jane
The city adopted significant storm water regulations, too, in 2001 but they have been summarily ignored on purpose by former mayors and their staffs.
Jane
M. Jane Murray
From: Kevin W.W. Johnson Sent: Wednesday, August 29, 2012 10:24 AM
To: Jane Murray; Maraldo.Dean; Barbara VanTil; Sudhir Desai; Larry Essman; scott.foster; fred.snell
Subject: Re: downspout article and retrofits
To: Jane Murray; Maraldo.Dean; Barbara VanTil; Sudhir Desai; Larry Essman; scott.foster; fred.snell
Subject: Re: downspout article and retrofits
Such
I do not disagree with. That is why I supported returning to City Manager form
of government so strongly. This is to occur in January 2014.
Am
hoping that a professional City CEO will provide us with due diligence and
consistency; amongst other professional traits.
Kevin
From: L Essman
To: ssturgill; rich saddler; fred.snell; scott.foster; Sudhir
Desai ; Barbara
VanTil ; Dean Maraldo; Jane Murray
; Kevin W.W.
Johnson
Sent: Thursday, August 30,
2012 12:02 AM
Subject: RE: downspout
article and retrofits
I went
through this with the City in
2001. After sewage backup into my home in 1997, 2000, and 2001 the City
sent us a notice that we must remove our downspouts from the sanitary sewer
within 30 days. We immediately contracted a plumber who removed the two downspouts
on the south side of our property from the sanitary sewer at a cost in excess
of $2,000. A line had to be run the full length of our property to the
service strip in the rear of the house so that we would not run the water onto
our neighbor's property. We could not simply run it onto the ground due
to the proximity of homes on Grandview Avenue. My neighbor to the north
ran her downspout out onto the ground and it causes seepage of our basement
wall in hard rains. We also removed the downspout on the northwest corner
of the property from the sanitary sewer. in 2001. We have so far incurred
costs of approximately $3,000 in removing our downspouts.
However,
our efforts to remove the downspout on the northeast corner ran into a
tremendous problem. Former City Department head Mike Shaw came to our
property and saw the problem. The City had had added pavement to
Grandview Avenue to the point that there were no longer any City curbs to channel
the water away from the house. In fact, the street is higher than our
property. Mr.. Shaw had a drip sewer installed in front of our driveway
to keep the water that runs off of the east and west sides of 25th Street from
coming in through our basement windows after Grandview was repaved [in 2001 I
believe]. Since removing the one remaining downspout on the
northeast corner of the house required significant expense, we acquired a
rainwater collection system. We now run the rainwater into that collection
system, which you may inspect at any time, but the downspout is still
connected. The only other option was to completely tear up our driveway
at very significant expense.
I believe
this is simply an effort to divert the attention from the real problem,
the incompetence of the city officials by their failure to require adequate
runoff control of new development in the area. We moved to Grandview in
February of 1992 and had no problem until the parking garage was constructed on
the southeast side of the SOMC Campus. I am all for expansion of SOMC
into a first class hospital, but the City failed to required any runoff
control on that construction to protect the residences below. This may be due
to the lack of a competent city engineer. Mike Shaw and I worked on an
ordinance in 2001 to require runoff control on any new development in the
city. The ordinance was approved by the City Council, but never
implemented by the city officials [some of whom were not even aware of the
Ordinance]. I believe this Ordinance is still in effect. Development
continued on the SOMC campuses on both the east and west side of
Grandview. In hard rains, runoff to Grandview from 25th Street to
23rd Street looks like the New River in West Virginia. Grandview is usually
almost completely flooded in hard rains. The sewer on 25thh Street looks
like a geyser in hard rains, due to the runoff from the SOMC East Campus.Water
shoots up out of the sewer onto Grandview adding to the flooding. My wife and I
must get up in the middle of the night if it storms to wondering if the
runoff will enter from the surface or the sewer.
I do not
believe the residential downspouts are the primary cause of the CSO problem in
this area and I really doubt if it will solve the problem. I made every
effort to remove my downspouts in 2001 but I still suffered a CSO in 2004 and
2008. Very few complied with the 2001 directive to my knowledge. You
reach a point when you have to ask yourself how much is it worth to live in
this town???
Larry
Essman
From: Kevin W.W.
Johnson
To: Hon. Jim Kalb ; Hon. John R. Haas ; Hon. M. Trent Williams ; Hon. Nicholas R. Basham ; Michael L. Jones, Esq. ; Kevin W. Johnson ; Reverend
Mayor Malone
Cc: Richard Duncan
Sent: Thursday, August 30,
2012 6:17 AM
Subject: Fw: downspout
article and retrofits
Thought
you all should read the following from Grandview Avenue resident Larry Essman
as it relates to the Long Term Control Project (LTCP) and the Portsmouth Daily Times article
"Grandview residents told to disconnect downspouts" (see: http://www.portsmouth-dailytimes.com/view/full_story/19958616/article-Grandview-residents-told-to-disconnect-downspouts?)
Kevin
From: Michael Jones <mljones@pmcourt.org>
Date: Thu, Aug 30, 2012 at 8:40 AM
Subject: RE: downspout article and retrofits
To: "Kevin W.W. Johnson" <kwwj@roadrunner.com>, "Hon. Jim Kalb" <jimkalb2@yahoo.com>, "Hon. John R. Haas" <JRH@rhlawfirm.net>, "Hon. M. Trent Williams" <CityAuditor@mail.com>, "Hon. Nicholas R. Basham" <NRBasham@yahoo.com>, "Kevin W. Johnson" <kwwjohnson@gmail.com>, Reverend Mayor Malone <DMalone@portsmouthoh.org>
Cc: Richard Duncan <rduncan1@falcon1.net>
Date: Thu, Aug 30, 2012 at 8:40 AM
Subject: RE: downspout article and retrofits
To: "Kevin W.W. Johnson" <kwwj@roadrunner.com>, "Hon. Jim Kalb" <jimkalb2@yahoo.com>, "Hon. John R. Haas" <JRH@rhlawfirm.net>, "Hon. M. Trent Williams" <CityAuditor@mail.com>, "Hon. Nicholas R. Basham" <NRBasham@yahoo.com>, "Kevin W. Johnson" <kwwjohnson@gmail.com>, Reverend Mayor Malone <DMalone@portsmouthoh.org>
Cc: Richard Duncan <rduncan1@falcon1.net>
This is a mandate from the US EPA.
The City was instructed to require the residents to disconnect the
downspouts. While there may be different circumstances for each of the 64
residents affected, the marching orders from the US EPA is that the downspouts
need to be disconnected and this is only one part of the overall plan to
address the Grandview area.
Mike