Leaders resolve to solve flood woes

By D.a. Wilkinson

Officials would like residents’ input on the proposed stormwater utility fee.

COLUMBIANA — Officials hope to resolve a stormwater problem that begins in the heart of the city.

City Manager Keith Chamberlin said the city has an opportunity to get up to 75 percent of a $10 million grant from the U.S. Department of Agriculture to stop flooding.

To pay for the remaining 25 percent, $2.5 million, city officials are considering a monthly fee of about $7 per home.

Officials are asking for input from the public, including coming to council’s meeting tonight.

“We have the same issues as Salem,” Chamberlin said. “We have flooding when we have heavy rains. We have to find some kind of way of solving the problem.”

Columbiana, like Salem, Chamberlin said, has made a number of studies of the problem over many decades, but hasn’t found a solution.

Jay Groner, Columbiana’s service director, said the city was built on a hill starting at the city’s main intersection at Park and Main streets. There are no storm drains in that area. He said city workers have to go several blocks from the intersection to find the beginnings of the city’s old storm sewers.

Groner said that adding modern storm drains in the center of the city is a high priority.

Another problem, Groner said, is that years ago, a storm drain was placed under one street to drain it, but it just dumps the water onto the next street. And, he added, in the past, small 8-inch drain pipes were installed when 30- or 36-inch pipes should have been used.

Chamberlin said that in 2010, the city won’t be able to get the same amount of funding from the USDA, which is changing its funding to 50 percent from the agency and 50 percent from the city. That’s why city officials are considering seeking the extra funding.

Groner said that the city could use new pavement to help eliminate flooding. The bottom of the pipe is concrete which allows some stormwater to be diverted while some is allowed to seep from the pipe back into the ground to naturally water it.

wilkinson@vindy.com