Mayor Hal Marx and members of the Petal Board of Alderman heard woes of standing water from residents during the public forum at Tuesday night’s board meeting.
Residents Jack and Tricia Linton, along with neighbors Roger and Traci Holmes – whose Parker Drive properties each border a vacant lot located between them – came before the board to see if anything can be done about standing water. The lot is at a lower grade than either piece of personal property and the culvert on Parker Drive is higher than the grade and water doesn’t reach the culvert to drain off.
“This is a flooding issue we’ve had at our home for 35 years,” Linton said. “During those 35 years, we’ve talked with four mayors about this – Jack Gay, Tony Phillips, Carl Scott and Hal (Marx).”
Linton said water stands in their backyard for probably three to four months out of the year, and in some instances six months. He explained that most of the year the lot is overgrown, but the city does come in at least once a year and cut it down so it doesn’t hold water.
Linton said the standing water had caused their wooden fence to start rotting as well as the floor of a small greenhouse on the back of the property to deteriorate. He believes the problem will get worse with the construction of a house at the top of a hill on Mozingo Drive, which will send more water down the hill and into the lot.
Linton noted how bad the mosquito problem was, saying the city has come out and spread mosquito pellets as well as sent the mosquito truck down the road, “but those are just Band-Aids to the problem.”
“The water has to be drained out of there before somebody gets sick, bad sick,” Linton said. “Property can be replaced, but lives can’t. And maybe I’m being a little too dramatic about that, but I’m concerned – for ourselves and our grandchildren.”
Linton believes water could be directed to a nearby creek if a larger culvert was installed using an easement to the creek located between the two homes.
“If that happens the water will drain and we won’t have an issue with that lot,” he said.
Marx explained the city had been to the property eight to 10 years ago, and at that time it was estimated to cost approximately $60,000 to fix the problem.
“I don’t know what it would be up to now,” he said.
Aldermen agreed the board should do a study to see how much it would cost to fix the problem and get a plan together. Marx said that with no funds in this year’s budget to remedy the problem, aldermen would need to allocate funds in the coming budget year, which would be adopted this summer and take effect in October.
Linton understood that money is an issue.
“We’ve been there 35 years,” he said. “I know in taxes we’ve spent $100,000 in 35 years here. And we’re not griping about that. The thing is, we have a great community. This is the first time you’ve ever seen me and if I have anything to do with it, this will be the last time you’ll see me.
“I’m here to ask you for help. It’s got to be done. It is a health hazard. The more it rains, the worse it is. But the problem would have still been there without the rain.”
In a separate incident, Jeff Sapp, who has owned Revitalizations LLC at 138 West Central Ave. since 2013, addressed the board about flooding issues taking place at his business. The small business offers wood furniture repair and refinishing, used furniture for purchase, Derksen Portable Buildings, Melissa & Doug interactive toys, and U-Haul rentals and reservations.
Sapp has previously appeared before the board concerning the issue. He said the problem has been getting worse as “we’ve been getting large amounts of water that continue on almost a daily basis.”
He said he never wanted to complain, but it had come to a point where the problem was impacting his bottom line, his health and the way he provides for his family. As a disabled veteran, Sapp feels he hasn’t been treated fairly by a city which bills itself as veteran friendly.
“With all the flooding and water staying on my lot, my business has fallen off by more than half,” he said.
Sapp’s solution, based on a Facebook post describing the issue, is to “dig a retention pond to catch all of our stormwater runoff on the lot. Once a whole (sic) is large enough grading will be done to direct the water to the retention pond.”
Sapp explained that he made it a point to locate inside the city limits and made an uninhabitable structure, a former brick home built in 1942, useful again.
“I made it a viable place to conduct my business and bring more people into Petal for the services and products I offered,” he said. “I wanted to better my business and be a productive member of society.”
Marx thanked Sapp for his service but explained that had nothing to do with the issue at hand. “We’re not persecuting you for being a veteran. That’s not a factor here, but rather the law/ordinance that everybody has to go by,” Marx said. “The standard here is what you are trying to do is alter the height or the structure of your property in such a way to keep water from coming onto and standing on your property.”
Sapp said while his original goal back in October was to build the lot up, as of January 17 of this year, he’s been trying to correct a communication issue he has with the city and to get guidance on how to better resolve this issue.
“I’m not getting that,” he said.
Marx explained that before he does anything, an ordinance requires Sapp to have an engineer certify that what he is going to do is not going to cause harm to his neighbors’ property.
“Because while you are a citizen of our city and have rights, they are too,” Marx said. “And so our job as the government of the city, is to make sure that one person’s rights don’t infringe on the rights of someone else. You can’t create a problem for somebody else to solve your problem. That’s all we’re wanting to make sure of.
“Nobody has said you can’t try to solve your problem. What we’ve said is our ordinance, which applies to everyone equally, is that you are supposed to have an engineer, someone who is certified to be able to tell us that what you are doing is not going to cause the flow of water to harm other people’s property.”
Marx said he felt any engineer could read an ordinance and know what the city was requiring, also noting the engineer could contact the building department, which handles such projects all the time.
“We have not tried to harm your business or put roadblocks in your way,” Marx said. “What we have asked you to do repeatedly is make sure (with the aid of an engineer) that what you are going to do is not going to cause harm to your neighbors because they are citizens too.”
Sapp thanked the board for its time, saying he would be back with an engineer.
“You’re not going to give me anything else that I need to hear here,” he said.
Ward 5 Alderman Tony Ducker explained in reference to the ordinance in question, which took effect in 2004, that “a lot of that stuff comes down from the federal government, with storm water runoff. We even pay a company to do a storm water runoff every year to make sure we are where we need to be with FEMA, DEQ and others.
“Hal just enforces the ordinance, so it’s not a situation where he can do this or that. Ultimately, if the city allows someone to do something to their property that adversely affects someone else, we can then be sued by those people for allowing that to happen. It’s not cut and dry.”
