KTUU.com | Alaska's news and information source | Drainage problem, city planning anger Hillside homeowners

Drainage problem, city planning anger Hillside homeowners

by Lori Tipton
Wednesday, January 7, 2009

ANCHORAGE, Alaska -- Some Hillside residents are battling with the city over a drainage problem from a neighboring subdivision they say is damaging their property.

City officials say they are working to fix the issues, but some homeowners don't approve of their plans.

All those involved gathered at a meeting Wednesday to flesh out the problems in an attempt to find a fix.

It all starts with the water.

The homes in the Goldenview Estates subdivision sit on what used to be wetlands, and the ground, which is now covered with a white blanket of snow, is saturated with water all year long.

"Water doesn't stay in a road service area -- it travels down the hill," said homeowner Lori Davey.

Houses are in the way of where the water would naturally flow to Rabbit Creek, and it's flooding some properties in Woodridge, the adjacent subdivision.

"On the Hillside, it just flows to the next lowest spot," Davey said. "There's no drainage plan, there's no underground culverts, no plan to get this water from the top to the bottom."

The city has proposed to fix the problem and is considering installing culverts beneath the roads leading through Woodridge to force water into a private road maintenance area.

Those who live in Woodridge tax themselves to maintain their roads.

"It's going to be a monstrous increase in our maintenance cost for something that absolutely doesn't benefit us," Davey said.

A meeting was held Wednesday afternoon to talk about the plan.

"We're going to be stuck with anything that goes wrong with it in the future with our money and not the city's," one property owner said.

Homeowners from both subdivisions, municipal planners, and the Army Corps of Engineers met to hash out the details.

"We thought we came up with a solution that everybody could put their hands on, and today we are all assembling to see if there are any holes in the design or the proposal to solve this drainage problem," said Don Keefer, private development manager with the Public Works department.

But some homeowners said the city isn't listening to what they want, and it has already picked a plan they don't agree with.

"This may be the right option, we don't think so, but in light of having a comprehensive plan, we certainly can't support it," Davey said.

Wednesday afternoon's meeting lasted two and a half hours, and all parties involved were still at a disagreement.

Woodridge homeowners did not give their approval for the city's plan, Davey said. They will hire an engineer to come up other alternatives to present to the city, she said.

Contact Lori Tipton at ltipton@ktuu.com