Flooding
July 24th, 2008 by 
Alica
Did your basement get flooded last weekend? How bad was it? What did it take to clean it up?
Damage occurred in a number of homes in the Country Club Second Addition on Saturday after torrential rains. Some residents are blaming the city for the flooding, citing bad drainage. The city engineer has confirmed that.
But who should pay for any damage that occurred last weekend?
Posted in Uncategorized, City business | 
July 24th, 2008 at 12:21 pm
This has been a problem in this area for over 5 years. The City has known there was a problem and it still isn’t fixed. I understand that sometimes things move slowly, but if the area can’t control the run off now, why do they continue all the contruction North of the problem area. I feel the City is responsible for this and has put these people in a tough spot.
July 25th, 2008 at 12:58 am
Why is the city accountable. What they should do is put higher standards on developers and instead of running with the money they make, why not hold them accountable. The land should of had proper drainage plans before the land was developed. Like always make the tax payers pay the price. You would thing before you spend what these people spent on a house they would of checked out the area better. This is what happens when you vote realtors and developers into city council spots. They don’t represent the people when they have interests in the decisions.
July 25th, 2008 at 6:26 am
This is one case where the city is not paying for the fix. They were able to get the developers to pay for this. The city needs to have more procedures in place for checking up on the developers. ex: did they follow all specs they submitted? is the grading what was approved? These items do not fall under the city inspector…so lets do some changing. Maybe the city engineers that approve the plans need to do some followup?
July 25th, 2008 at 10:05 am
People are right, the developer is also responsible, but the City still knew about the problems and didn’t get it fixed. All of these problems started after they made the improvements to Chestnut. Before the improvement all the water ran east into the creek and the development’s drainage was set up for that. Now all the water, from the whole Country Club development 75 acres worth, drains south and all of it dumps into the ditch between Chestnut and Palmer Dr. North of Aspen Blvd. The water then is supposed to drain south under Aspen Blvd through a 24 inch culvert. I don’t know if you understand hydrology, but water does not flow up hill and that many acre feet of water isn’t going to flow timely through a 24 inch culver, so it ponds in that area, and that is a big pond.
I think this is the City’s Problem, they are the ones that made the changes to Chestnut and they are the ones that changed the drainage for the whole area and they have done studies and knew this was going to happen and didn’t do anything to timely fix it.
#2 you should go out and talk to the people who lost everything in their basements and have been working with the City on this for 5 years and NOTHING has been done. Yes the City is accountable.
July 25th, 2008 at 11:04 am
Also, a city employee apparently removed a manhole cover that was in the “pond” which overflowed the sewer system, that’s the reason for the sewage backup.
I agree about being careful who you put on city council! Nice that people wised up this last election because neither new member has ties to business in Brandon.
And agreed that the city should be checking developers AFTER they build, who knows if they did what they got approved for??
And perhaps the city will try to recoup the costs from the developer, I think they should. Maybe it won’t happen again if they are made accountable.
They also shouldn’t have been issuing building permits for the last five years if they’ve known there’s a problem.
July 25th, 2008 at 2:30 pm
The issues should be addressed when a developer submits the Plats to the city. Very true it should be the total responsibility of the developer. Question to ask, does this all cost money for it to be done right the first time? answer, yes. cost born by the developer. Must be someone inside city hall not making it happen? Letting developers do it how they want to!!!!
July 25th, 2008 at 3:19 pm
We are talking about the developer paying, but now that it is severely broken who is responsible. Who signs off on the development plans? I know when the development was drawn up 10 years ago the water was supposed to drained east, Phil is right. Now with the new Chestnut Street all the water drains south. My question is; who was the engineer that planned for all the water to run south and only empty into the ditch north of Aspen Blvd. I know it wasn’t Jon, it was long before him. That is just negligent.
July 25th, 2008 at 3:43 pm
I’m sorry to say but the Country Club is not the only flood prone area in this fine city. It is sad to hear that these hard working people have to go through this mess and the city should be liable. Has anyone ever been at Main and Aspen or Redwood and Holly Blvd during a hard rain? Yes, lake front property also.
I live in the new development just north of the track by the fire station (Stone Ridge Addition). Another fine job done by this city with the developer. We all currently and have had drainage problems since moving up here. I had my yard done after construction and the developer north of me, B & V Homes, and a large slop on his property which washed my yard away. All I asked for was maybe some hay bails to stop the drainage, but no that did not happen! After complaining to the city (Dave Sweir) they told me there was nothing they could do as it was the contractor’s problem and I needed to take it up with him. It ended up costing me $1400.00 to have to do sod because of the property to my north. The homes across the street has had the sod wash away to expose their sprinkler lines. Also one neighbor has a lake that forms in front of his home every rain or when the sprinklers run off and it just sits stagnant water. We then contacted the developer, Gene Johnson and sales person Diane Anderson said there was nothing they could do. Also drive by and see that all the drains up here are blocked by black sand bags. They would be nice pictures for the Brandon Challenger. When it rains all the water gathers under the railroad bridge, the only way in and out of this area. Emergency, who will be responsible then? I again contacted the city; (Wayne Fletcher) said it was not their problem as it is not a city street until the 2nd layer of asphalt is put on top of the street. Mr. Fletcher stated that Meryl and Roys was responsibility for it and the blockage of the drains had something to do with a clean water act? Well now they are developing the area to our north maybe upwards of 400 homes, it does not take a rocket scientists to figure out what is going to happen now. Maybe Brandon should run an ad for a new city engineer? Good luck everyone stay dry……
July 25th, 2008 at 4:39 pm
Get N Wet,
The buck stops with Gene Johnson if he’s the developer, push the issue with him.
July 26th, 2008 at 5:33 am
Thanks for the correction. Nice to know that resididents are paying attention to this. Thanks for the input on the matter. I grew up here and moved out of state and just returned. Knew there was more to this story. But the politics in Brandon has changed just the people. Great to have all the facts.
July 26th, 2008 at 6:54 pm
The majority of Gene Johnson’s developments have water drainage problems. He has developed MOST of Brandon. That is one of the reasons there are drainage issues all over town. He got a lot by the city council members when he was the mayor. Same as Mike Schultz.
I think a different engineer needs to be looking at and checking off on the new developments in Brandon. Most every area I can think of in Brandon has had water drainage issues.
July 26th, 2008 at 8:47 pm
I don’t think the same is true for Schultz.
July 26th, 2008 at 10:37 pm
I would agree with you Mary. If I remember correctly, we were constantly dealing with drainage questions and disagreements. The City Engineer has changed since those days (when Mike was Mayor), but I think their is still some debate about drainage. In fact, one of the first things brought up to be by a few contractors/developers after I was elected was drainage and whether the city was requiring too much or not. I recall discussion of drainage behind Blaine’s in TallGrass…drainage in the area just West of Aspen Park near the pool…drainage just South of Evergreen during that development. For my perspective, Mayor Schultz would always bend over backward to make sure he was going above and beyond what was required him. Just curious, what does Schultz intend on putting at the Corner of Sioux & Holly (otherwise known as political sign corner)?
July 27th, 2008 at 7:46 am
What other areas had Gene Johnson developed? I bet he has a hard time selling the empty lots in Stone Ridge when the word spreads up here!
July 27th, 2008 at 10:05 am
#14 The lots will sell. Always “fresh meat” moving to town that have no clue about the drainage issues. It is unfortunate that the proper infrastructure isn’t in place before homes are actually built.
Gene Johnson has truely developeda lot of Brandon. It is great he has done so otherwise most of us wouldn’t be living here. It just would have been nice if things would have been done correctly in the first place so the city isn’t constantly having to deal with correcting issues. It is a waste of $$$$ and time.
Areas that I know of that Mr. Johnson has developed or been connected with are:
1. Area behind middle school, 2. Area NW of Blaines (front area was developed by Mike Schultz when he was mayor) but the back area is Mr. Johnson, 3. Area south of Aspen (gravel pit and to the east),
4. Area north of the rail road bridge (where you live), and 5. And I believe the entire west side of Brandon. For sure, the south end of this area.
There are probably more - not sure.
Finally, Heath are you kidding me about Mr. Schultz bending over backward? Not so, he abused his mayoral position while he developed his area NW of Blaines. He put in electrical, sewer, and sidewalks before he had final approval from the city on the final platting. Mr. Schutlz also contracted with the same engineer that the city contracted with. MAJOR conflict of interest. Need I say more….
July 27th, 2008 at 11:11 am
Nothing to do with this article but I was glad when Mr. Tople was away. Now we have to read “AGAIN” how important he is!
July 27th, 2008 at 4:31 pm
Familiar with the phrase, “Those who live in glass houses shouldn’t throw stones,” Get N Wet? Didn’t take anyone very long to start kicking Tople again. I read his post, I never read anywhere there where he said, “how important he was.” Maybe they can start a thread that is dedicated to bashing or supporting him? That should make everyone happy. Meanwhile, why don’t you park that nice shiny white patrol car down at the PD, rather than your driveway? You don’t own it, the taxpayers do.
July 28th, 2008 at 6:21 am
No matter how you want to turn this story, the responsibility of the drainage lies within city hall, open your eyes, It all comes down to who you are, there are only two individuals at city hall that you have to please to get what ever you want!!!!!
July 28th, 2008 at 7:12 am
Who’s that always listening?
July 28th, 2008 at 9:23 am
I am not into all the conspiracy theories, but I know that there are some issues. I think we will know more after tonight’s 7:00pm meeting or at least I hope so. I know most of the stuff they are dealing with now was a result of past administrations but all I want to see is someone from the City and this administration to show some integrity and admit that there is a problem and that they are going to fix it. I will say, so far, the City is working with us on this issue and I think they want to make this right.
July 28th, 2008 at 9:30 am
I don’t think in any way I bashed Mr. Tople, I was just happy when I didn’t have to read his crap. If you want to let me drive one of those nice shiny patrol cars that would be fun, bring it on over! Kiddy Up!
July 28th, 2008 at 10:28 am
Hey all you Johnson Bashers - I live in Westview and when we were building our home the builder noticed some ponding in the backyard after a big rain. Gene had someone out there as soon as it dried up and regraded 3 lots to our east. As an engineer I see this happen a lot. The problem isn’t the developers not following specs. The problems come when each individual builder starts reshaping the individual lots.
21 - If you have a problem with Johnson, call him. It worked for me. FYI - don’t like the covers over the sewer drains, call the DNR. Until all bare land has adequate groundcover they require a system to keep silt from washing into sewers and drainage ditches.
July 28th, 2008 at 10:46 am
once again, we go from the issue into “who i hate in brandon and why”
can’t throw a stone in this town without hitting someone that has a gripe or a problem with someone else. Or even better…the conspiracy theories about who is getting away with what and when… such is small town life, i guess.
back to our regularly scheduled program, people!
FLOODING IN THE COUNTRY CLUB SECOND ADDITION.
July 28th, 2008 at 11:19 am
I agree with ladida, lets not make this a name calling blame game, I know that was not my intention. I will let you all know how the meeting goes tonight.
July 28th, 2008 at 11:53 am
What kind of meeting is there tonight???
July 28th, 2008 at 12:08 pm
There is a special City Council Meeting tonight at the Club house. The City is supposed to have more information for the home owners affected by the flooding and sewer backup.
July 28th, 2008 at 12:18 pm
How the heck did we get into all of this irrelevant name calling and innuendos, when this appears to be on flooding in the Country club area? I believe that we as citizens of Brandon need to stop speculating or rehashing old former officials of the City. We should be concerned about how fast this is going to be cleared up for that area!!! I believe the the Mayor and the council are the ones who will be providing answers, as it should be. They voted (not the mayor, but he is mayor) on the passage of this development. (This would exclude the newly elected Brooks and Jones), but would include former Alderman Rubin. Do some of you people lay in bed at night and say to yourselves what is it that is so stupid that tomorrow I can spout that on the Brandon info blog sight? The concern here is the flooding of these homes, keep this in mind!!
July 28th, 2008 at 12:31 pm
It’s not only about Country Club but to shed light on other problem areas that the city, has not and does not want to fix. Our problem up here is only going to get worse by getting 400 new homes a top the hill and we would like to maybe stop it before it gets to the point that the people of Country Club had to go through. #22, We have tried to talk with Mr. Johnson, council members along with the others mentioned and nobody seems to want to claim responsibility. I guess we also have to wait till things get worse or get media coverage until someone decides to fix it?
July 28th, 2008 at 12:48 pm
#28, You live on a hill. Water runs downhill. If you get a heavy rain you’re going to get heavy runoff. Sorry you lost your sod but unless you have water in your basement you’re a victim of poor timing not fraud or negligience.
Please get back on topic.
To the Country Club folks, good luck at the meeting. I hope you get some satisfaction.
July 28th, 2008 at 1:06 pm
It CURRENTLY is about flooding in the country club area (there were also 2 other areas that flooded). The issue is that flooding has been a problem for many years in Brandon. It is the same flooding issue - repeated every year or two - in almost every new development. The short term answer is to help the current homeowners but the LONG term answer is make developers accountable for lack of proper drainage.
July 28th, 2008 at 1:23 pm
If you attend council meetings, you will know that the city has been working on fixing this. What they did in this case was get the developers (3 groups/people) to pay for this. I hope what they have planned will be the ‘right’ fix. I can say we had one council person ( Roger Brooks) and at least 1 city perspm (Dennis) on site when this all happened. One person in the area emailed pics of the water to the council and city. I think if you have a problem, you need to be able to show proof of what the problem is and then address it with the city. They can’t help when they have nothing in their hands to work with.
This whole thing has opened eyes with the city that maybe we need more inspections done. Now they need to determine what needs to be inspected and by who and the consequences if proper procedures are not followed.
July 28th, 2008 at 1:31 pm
I’ve only lived here 6 years so excuse me if I don’t know about all new neighborhood flooding. Which new neighborhoods are flooding?
The other 2 areas Redwood/Splitrock and Main/Aspen are the lowest points in their respective neighborhoods (neither one new) which is the logical place for water to collect. Hard to bash developers when both intersections would have been installed by the city. Here’s a suggestion, let Stockwell determine the cause of the flooding in Country Club and let the blame fall where it belongs. If you have specific problems with water bring them to the Council and demand they investigate.
July 28th, 2008 at 1:31 pm
This thread in not just about the Country Club Addition, it is about flooding in general and who should pay for it. There are people simply pointing out there is a problem in Stone Ridge that could become as bad if not worse than Country Club Addition. Several contacts have been made to the developer, contractors, city councilmen, city inspector and city administrator and no one will answer or respond to the people in Stone Ridge. WHY?? Dont rag on “Get N Wet” when all he/she is doing is using this as a means to bring it to light since no one at city hall will listen. There is one house in Stone Ridge that has sump pumps in his back yard because no one will listen and the problem will not go away.
July 28th, 2008 at 1:50 pm
I read the legals and council agendas regularly haven’t seen any flooding complaints. Until you get to the meetings and get it in the public record you’re just
b*($%ing. Take 31’s advice then the city is forced to either act on their own or force the developers to correct the problem.
July 28th, 2008 at 1:53 pm
#32 There have been flooding issues in the following areas since I moved to Brandon several years ago. Area behind the middle school, SW area of Brandon, east side of Tallgrass, area north of the bowling alley, Stone Ridge (I was unaware of until posts above), area by swimming pool, and the country club area. These areas are ALL new developments (exception swimming pool area).
It should not be that the same issue of drainage issues repeating itself over and over again. Someone is dropping the ball somewhere.
#32 I agree with you on the “lowest points” in those two neighborhoods. The point is why wasn’t proper drainage adressed when these “low” areas were made into streets. Maybe holding ponds should have been part of the drainage plan.
I have never been a fan of using streets as the main route of water transportation during heavy rains. Where I grew up water went down street drains and then to either holding ponds, streams, etc. Brandon has this in some instances but the majority of the rain flows down streets with nowhere to go (Redwood as an example).
July 28th, 2008 at 2:13 pm
Wow, sounds like there are a lot of issues and frustrated people. I am only speaking for myself, but we voiced our concerns to the City and I believe they are doing there best to make it right. They met with us in our neighborhood and our now having a special meeting tonight. I am a little frustrated that the problem wasn’t fixed sooner, but I believe they are working with us to get it done now. If others have concerns talk to your alderman, they are there to help.
July 29th, 2008 at 7:00 am
Well, we had the meeting last night and the City had some good information. I think they are trying to help us out and are looking to do the right thing. I think they have a lot of work a head of them.
July 29th, 2008 at 7:14 am
I was also at the meeting. I feel the City is doing a good job working with us and did have some good information. I know we are still a little frustrated with way this happened, but at least now we know the City is aware of the problem, not just in our area, but around town and they are taking steps to fix it. I am happy with the progress.
July 29th, 2008 at 9:33 am
#38 I’m glad you got some good information from the city but until you see some action to fix things that’s all it is “information”. I have been in my home now for about 2 years along with most of my neighbors up here and we have seen no progress on improvements. Heck, one of our neighbors had to dig in a sump pump in his back yard or deal with have a marsh for a yard. I do have a nice yard now with the sod, to bad my kids can’t play in it because it stays soggy wet! And yes, they also received water in their basement on that Saturday, lucky it was not finished yet. I invite anyone to come out and stand under the railroad bridge on a rainy day, hope you can swim. It says something if before the Meryl & Roy workers leave on the weekend they build a berm at the intersection of Stone and Sioux for the runoff if we get any rain. What is going to happen when that street is done, more problems for the residents and “information” from the city? The developer needs to be held accountable!
July 29th, 2008 at 11:36 am
Well I know the City has hired an engineering firm and they are reviewing the drainage plans for the whole City. Maybe I am to trusting, but I believe they are trying there best to correct past indiscretions and I also believe they are going to start holding developers accountable. I have spoken to four aldermen after our ordeal and I believe they want to help. I guess we will see.
July 29th, 2008 at 1:19 pm
If the city has an engineer on the payroll why do they need to hire a firm?
July 29th, 2008 at 5:07 pm
The firm Jim memtioned is the one the city has hired. We have different people on the council now and things are starting to change. Work on this project will start Monday!!!! Take pics of your area….call the council person that is in your ward. Get them involved. Hats off to Roger Brooks…he is one of the council people for this area and has been on top of the issue.
July 30th, 2008 at 8:57 pm
I was wondering where all the water in the sewers came from. I didn’t think runoff waters could get in the sewer drains. Getting water through your basement walls is one thing. Having the sewer drain back up is a totally different problem. Are people running their sump pumps into the sewers?
August 6th, 2008 at 10:10 pm
So constituents, did we get our drainage questions answered and our problems solved or do we have to worry about the next big rain? How about that question regarding the sump pumps into the sewer? That wasn’t really happening was it? Course not, that would be illegal.