Area of Wartrace hit hard by erosion

Wartrace Alderman Thomas Hurt examines one of the ditches by the Mt. Zion parking lot that has been causing drainage problems at the church. (T-G Photo by Mary Reeves) [Click to enlarge] [Order this photo]

The town of Wartrace wants to give the alley known to many as High Street to the Mt. Zion Baptist Church -- and the church doesn't want it. At least, they don't want it the way it is now.

"Y'all are going to give it to us in the condition it's in -- it's wore down. Wore out. It's washed out," said Martha Norvell. She was one of about a dozen members of the congregation, including Pastor Eddie Richardson, who attended the meeting of the Wartrace Board of Mayor and Aldermen Nov. 10 to register their complaints.

The alley was one of several the town no longer wanted to maintain, said Mayor Don Gallagher. If the adjacent property owners wanted, the town would give them the alleys, divided between them. In August, when the decision was made, the church requested some changes be made before they would consider the deal.

"There were concerns about drainage and moving the water meter," said Gallagher. "Since that time, there was debris in the drainage ditch; they moved that. The meter got moved. They did some drain work on the other side of the road where there were some drainage problems."

"You did not do what you told me you were going to do," said Anna Keele, another member of the church and the one who donated the property for the church's parking lot. "The meter is still on church property. They messed up the parking lot. They didn't fix it back and they still haven't fixed it back ... there was gravel on there and it was a level lot. There's no gravel and it's not level."

In a later interview, Gallagher said the parking lot was in better shape now than it was before the men worked on it.

"The meter was sticking up," he said. "It was an obstacle in the parking lot. By moving it right to the edge, we were able to level it out."

Gallagher said he wasn't sure the meter still being on the church lot is an issue.

"I think after a year, sewer lines, waterlines, that's an assumed easement," he said.

Erosion source

Both Richardson and church member John Gross told the board they felt the problems with the drainage, and the fact that the alley pavement is being washed out, is due to the presence of the subdivision added in recent years on the hill above the church, on Sims Avenue and Fort Circle.

"When that had trees and grass and all that, we didn't have a problem," said Richardson. "Water comes off the hill and around the houses. It's washing our lands away."

"Something has to be done to stop the erosion," said Gross.

Some of the people living in that subdivision aren't happy with the erosion situation either. Joel Luscinski, who lives on Fort Circle, told the Times-Gazette in an earlier interview that he loves the view from his home.

"We can watch the fireworks in Shelbyville from here on the Fourth of July,' he said.

But, he added, "These houses should have never been built here."

Water coming off the hill at the subdivision on Fort Circle is taking the property owners' gravel away with it. (T-G Photo by Mary Reeves) [Click to enlarge] [Order this photo]

Problems arise

The small subdivision was started four years ago by Curl Construction, after the final approval in 2004. For many years -- during the drought -- there didn't seem to be any problems, said Luscinski. The houses have long gravel driveways from the road to the houses. This year, however, the rains came back.

And the driveways have washed away.

Scotty Farrar in the Shelbyville codes office is also Wartrace's building inspector. He was not involved in the earlier planning of the subdivision, but did sign off on the last few houses, including Luscinski's. At the homeowner's request, he revisited the subdivision to look at the erosion.

"It looked pretty extensive," he said. "They definitely have an issue there."

At the time he signed off on the houses, said Farrar, the drainage was routed away from the houses and the driveways and wasn't a problem.

Vegetation issue

"What occurred over there is that they weren't able to get any vegetation on that slope," he said. "I understand that Greg Curl went back out there and did some work and did divert the water again. But there was still no vegetation."

Jerry Fox, who was on the planning commission at the time, and was a building inspector for the town, said he had concerns about the subdivision as it was being planned.

"I felt we should put everything on a higher standard, requiring sidewalks, underground utilities, maybe brick homes -- Wartrace has plenty of $50,000-70,000 vinyl ranch houses," he said. "I was hoping on that piece of property we could raise the bar a little bit. I think they could have sold because Wartrace is an attractive town. One of the requirements was that there be a screen of trees along Sims Avenue for the homes that faced the cul-de-sac; the back of those houses faced Sims Avenue."

Besides providing a privacy screen between the houses, he said, the screen of vegetation would also help retain soil.

"They sort of complied with that," he said. "But if you go up there, you'll see they just put some trees in. If it had been done correctly, there would be a screen now."

Walk through

On the Wednesday following the meeting, Alderman Scott Claxton, Gallagher and Brian Smith first walked the area around Mt. Zion to look at the situation, Later, Smith showed Alderman Thomas Hurt the trouble spots.

Two ditches along the alley in question, and two more ditches frame the parking lot behind the church, including one that runs between the church and the parking lot. Only about three feet of land is left between the corner of the church and the ditch. Gravel from the parking lot can be seen in the bottoms of the ditches. Recent work that has been done by the town, such as reinforcing and cleaning out parts of the drainage system, is also visible.

"I can see they've got a problem here," said Hurt.

Whose problem?

The question is, whose problem?

"The developer could make an argument they complied with engineer's requirements and the engineer could come back and say its up to developer to maintain," said Fox.

Gallagher said he wanted to wait until the remaining members of the board, alderwoman Jean Gallagher and Patsy Gregory, could also visit the site before any decisions were made. He suggested Smith meet with Gross, who has experience in drainage and roadwork, to examine the site and offer possible solutions.

"Basically, the town's going to take care of its drainage concerns on the town's right of way," he said. "We cannot go on private property."

Both Gallagher and Fox said the development went through the proper procedures, with site plans being submitted to the planning commission, then to the town's engineer, Robert Stigall. Any concerns would sent the plans back to the planning commission and the developer to be addressed.

"I guess it went back and forth two times," said Fox.

"That developer went through all the proper steps," said Gallagher. "Any developer has to put up a surety bond for a year in case there are any problems."

Drainage considered

Gallagher said drainage is one of the issues considered when planning a development.

"I can remember talking when that particular subdivision was going in," said the mayor. "Angela Fernandez, the state planner, they were big at the time on not putting curbing in. They were concerned about water runoff not affecting the flood plain. They were wanting more water being absorbed by natural means."

"When you spend $100,000 on a house, you should be able to get up the driveway," said Luscinski. He showed Gallagher the damage and asked him to speak with Curl Construction, but said nothing has been done.

"Greg Curl said he'd gone back and ditched again and said he told Mr. Luscinski to sow grass."

Paul Lane with Curl Construction said he has not heard of any complaints this year from the residents of the subdivision.

"We have done more than we're required to do," he said. "Once you buy property, the maintenance and upkeep are up to you."

Farrar said something would need to be done.

"The banks need to be stabilized," he said. "There's more soil down there (in the ditches) than when I passed on the final inspection. The soil gets silted in."

Without adding vegetation to the hillside, he said, even diverting the water flow with more ditching won't be a permanent solution, and some groundwork would probably be necessary before the planting.

"It's going to continue to be a problem," said Farrar.