The Orion Township Board of Trustees voted Sept. 19 to spend $3,000 to install an edge drain to a leaching basin along the recently resurfaced Clarkston Road safety path, to combat drainage problems.
Other items of work to help drainage, included in a memo from parks and recreation director Rock Blanchard, were $23,044 to adjust the cross slope between Merritt and Hinford, and $5,603 to put a railing on the existing retaining wall at 236 Clarkston.
Also included is $500 for cross walk striping and sign at Harry Paul. The total estimated cost for all three items is $29,148.
Township engineers Orchard, Hiltz and McCliment, who prepared the cost estimates, said temporary grading easements would need to be obtained to adjust the cross slope between Merritt and Hinford.
Blanchard explained that since the project on Clarkston was a safety path rehabilitation, the scope of work did not include completely tearing out the path and correcting all the existing problems.
He said due to a number of citizen worries about the side slope and the drainage, he had walked the path with township engineers and came up with the list of work items.
Trustee Michael Gingell said he was concerned about potential flooding problems on the path.
‘If (flooding) were to occur, and freeze, these would be big problems that would remain for some time,? he said of the area between Merritt and Hinford.
‘That was probably the worst slope,? Blanchard said. ‘A leach basin just lets the water go out gradually…this would be adding an edge drain, to let the water go out quicker.?
Blanchard said the edge drain was not an ‘ideal solution,? but was less costly than paying over $100,000 to put in a new storm drain.
‘Puddles will freeze..(Residents could be) potentially slipping and potentially falling,? said Gingell. ‘Will these resolve those items??
Jim Stevens of OHM said there are four basins in the Clarkston Road path area and that drain within 24 hours.
‘The one at 840 Clarkston is one that takes a few days,? he said. ‘I can’t tell you there won’t be potential problems. It might take a day…with a leaching basin, it’s really as fast as the soil can take it.?
Because leaching basins do not have an outlet, the water collects and infiltrates the soil. Blanchard said putting in an edge drain should improve the time to drain water at that basin.
He said the other alternative would be to construct a storm sewer to a positive outlet, with the nearest outlet 1,500 feet away.
The estimated cost of that would be $100,000, and would not be able to be constructed until summer of 2006.
‘A storm drain would work right away,? Stevens said. ‘But if (the edge drain) doesn’t, maybe we’ll have to look at a more substantial fix.?
According to Supervisor Jerry Dywasuk, the township has a high water table and with more development coming in, more drainage problems were likely to come up.
‘It’s not a perfect world,? he said. ‘We do the best we can, but we’re limited by resources.?
Clerk Jill Bastian said when the safety path on Clarkston was going in, she didn’t hear any comments about drainage.
‘We want the situation to be better than it is, because it’s just not satisfactory,? she said.
Treasurer Alice Young was concerned that to address the drainage issues, the parts of the path that were just resurfaced would have to be torn up.
‘Do they have to tear up what they just did to fix this?? she asked.
‘Part of it does,? Stevens said.
Blanchard said correcting the slope was not part of that original work.
‘We decided on the retaining wall,? he said. ‘As far as the drainage issue…that wasn’t anticipated.
‘If the whole project included drainage…you’d be looking at $300,000, and we didn’t have that in the budget,? said Blanchard.
Ed Peters, who lives on Clarkston Road, presented the board with a frightening scenario of what might happen if a child were to slip and fall in cold weather and be covered by water in one of the giant puddles.
‘Anytime it snows or rains, and that safety path floods, it could happen,? he said, adding that drainage issues should have been taking into consideration when the path was redesigned.
‘There’s too much angle (on the path),? Peters said. ‘Our township ordinance doesn’t OK that.?
Dywasuk said Peters? scenario could happen anywhere in the township.
‘Should we abandon the safety path program?? he asked.
Bastian said it was ‘rather pathetic? that people couldn’t use the path they already had.