City council committee gets project updates, examine drainage issues

The city council’s street and sewer committee prepares to meet Monday evening, Jan. 23, 2017 at Bardstown City Hall.

By JIM BROOKS
Nelson County Gazette / WBRT Radio

The Bardstown City Council’s street and sewer committee met Monday evening to discuss upcoming projects and existing issues with storm water, sewer and street maintenance.

BONDS. The city will begin to enforce its ordinance regarding bonds for storm water improvements for larger construction projects, according to city civil engineer Jessica Filiatreau.

Chairman Joe Buckman listens to the committee members during Monday’s committee meeting.

The bonds typically are held by the city to insure contractors complete all of the planned improvements, which include storm water and erosion plans. While the ordinance ties the size of the bond to the size of the project, the city has only been requiring the minimum bond of $500.

Once a project is completed, the city releases the bond. But if the contractor does not complete the improvements, the bond is used to finish up the work. The issue now is when a contractor walks away from a job that’s completed but leaves work undone, the $500 bond isn’t enough to cover the cost of completing the unfinished improvements, Filiatreau said.

“The intent was always to tie the bond to the value of the improvements,” she said.

The city has already started to do so, she explained. “This is just an incentive,” she said. The bonds will project the city from having to deal with projects that aren’t completed, as well as adjacent property owners.

DRAINAGE ISSUES. Filiatreau told the committee of two drainage issues that the city’s engineering department is looking at.

The first is the natural drainage area that runs along the rear of the properties along Carey Court and McGowan Avenue in Salem Hills subdivision. A previous property owner installed an 18-inch diameter drainage pipe at the rear of the property to handle the flow of the drainage, and then filled in and leveled the yard to provide more usable space.

The pipe is too small for the amount of water it must handle, Filiatreau explained. Upstream, the water backs up, and downstream, the force of water exiting the pipe is causing erosion — so much so that a sewer service line has been exposed by the erosion. At another location, a natural drainage area between two homes was also piped and the area filled in. This pipe is causing problems as well.

The pipes were put in without permits, and ideally, they need to be removed and the drainage areas restored to how they were originally designed. The areas concerned are private property, but Filiatreau said the one pipe is of particular concern because of possible damage to the sewer system.

Filiatreau sought the committee’s input because leaving it alone is not a good option, but she wasn’t comfortable spending taxpayer money on a problem caused by a property owners. The pipe has the potential to damage the city sewer lines, and is a concern.

If the city fixed the drainage, it would use its labor and equipment, which could set a precedent.

Councilwoman Kecia Copeland asked how the property owner would have known about the problem when they bought the property. She suggested the city remove the pipe and restore the drainage area and then ask the property owner to contribute to cover the cost.

Councilman Joe Buckman suggested the city “bite the bullet” and take care of the problem. “When people don’t get permits, you have things like this happen,” he said. “It puts the city between a rock and a hard place.”

Copeland agreed. “If its going to contaminate or hurt our sewer system, we need to do this.”

Filiatreau said she would move forward with discussions with the property owner with the pipe that’s affecting the sewer line.

The second drainage issue is between Westwind Trail and Templin Avenue. The creek that runs under Westwind Trail travels through a 36-inch pipe on private property as the stream continues south toward Templin Avenue. The underground pipe allowed the property to have a sizeable yard, and has been in place for many years, she said.

But the pipe is failing and has already collapsed twice. To replace it would require an engineering study to determine the correct size pipe to put in place. Filiatreau said the property owner recently purchased the house, and in the process, “purchased a problem.”

The reason the issued surface was the city has plans to replace the culvert that passes under Westwind Trail near Arrow Trail and install a larger one that can handle greater volumes of water.

“We can’t easily address the culvert under the road if we don’t take care of things downstream,” she said. She said removing the pipe and having an open creek would improve the area’s drainage.

The committee made no recommendations, as discussions are still under way with the property owner.

FLAGET AVE. STORM DRAINS. The engineering to add storm drainage to West Flaget Avenue is ongoing, Filiatreau told the committee, and is expecting to the design and engineering by March.

In other business, the committee:

— reviewed work drainage and sewer projects completed in the current budget.

— paving is mostly completed in the city with the exception of the area near Thai Summit.

— heard that information is being gathered in preparation for new websites for the public works departments.

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