HANCOCK COUNTY — Plans for new developments throughout the county have been pouring in during recent years. Many of them, whether residential or commercial, often draw the same concern from the projects’ soon-to-be neighbors:
How will this impact drainage on my property?
Often, there’s an existing issue regarding large amounts of standing water during rains, and property owners fear more rooftops and more pavement will only make it worse. Architectural aesthetics and traffic impacts often generate the most attention during discussions about new developments, but no factor has greater potential to affect surrounding properties. Poor drainage can lead to property damage and health hazards and can be expensive to mitigate.
That’s why regulations have tightened over the years, calling for certain drainage-control infrastructure and striving to make sure new developments don’t worsen the water situation for their less-scrutinized forebears.
For new developments, which almost always are on farmland, Hancock County has a formula regulating how much runoff is allowed. The goal is to have less runoff than when the site was cropland, said Hancock County Surveyor Susan Bodkin, whose office pays close attention to drainage issues in the county.
“We’re trying to make the situation better than what it was before it got developed,” she said.
Detention ponds, hundreds of which dot neighborhoods and commercial developments throughout the county, can help sites meet those calculations by drawing water and storing it before discharging it at a controlled rate.
“Instead of just gushing out into the ditch, this slows it down, holds it, lets everything get back to where it should be or reduced down to where it can handle, and then it releases,” Bodkin said.
Ponds are included in plans for not only many subdivisions going in throughout the county, but the dozens of warehouses too.
“Partly they need the dirt to build their pads up to get their truck drives in, but the main reason is they’re trying to meet that detention requirement for all that hard surface they’re adding — the big buildings, the big parking all has to be compensated in that pond,” Bodkin said of the excavations.
Development plans go through technical reviews by a committee that representatives of the surveyor’s office sit on along with experts from other agencies like the highway department, Purdue Extension, planning department, auditor and fire departments. Plans are reviewed by the county’s plan commission as well.
Sites are inspected periodically as work gets underway to ensure pipes are being installed properly and erosion control practices are in place, among other necessities. A final inspection is conducted before structures can start being built.
Residents with drainage problems who express concerns about new developments often live in neighborhoods that were developed before the county’s rules were strengthened, Bodkin said.
“Ordinances have improved over time,” she said. “As we have moved forward, we see that having a lot of houses on a single 8-inch tile with no pond, no detention, was not the best way to do development. Especially as you grow, you have more of that happening.”
Currently, the county requires an 8-inch drainage tile on each home lot. Decades ago, however, it wasn’t uncommon for one such pipe alone to serve 20 to 30 homes.
“And therefore when the storm event hits, that water can’t get away quick enough, so ponding occurs either on their lot or in the road,” Bodkin said.
There often isn’t room for a detention pond in existing neighborhoods to aid drainage problems. Officials are motivated to ensure new subdivisions coming nearby don’t worsen their situation, however.
“And if we can make it better, like running a storm sewer over a property line to give them a place to hook up, we try to do that,” she said.
That’s what’s planned for the Lantern Woods subdivision — which is prone to pooling water after heavy rains — as the Centennial neighborhood expands east of County Road 500W north of County Road 200S.
Water woes
New developments don’t always result in ideal drainage situations for nearby property owners, however, said Allison Speckman.
Noelting Estates is underway south of County Road 200S and west of County Road 700W just west of her home, where she’s lived since 2011 after her grandfather built it in 1986. The western part of the property didn’t have problems with standing water until the subdivision started going in.
“I can’t tell you how many months our yard just sat in water,” she said.
The water prevented mowing and created a breeding ground for mosquitoes, Speckman said, adding it also rotted trees, which had to be removed. Pallets, which eventually floated away, had to be used as a makeshift bridge to get to the barn on the property. The Speckmans had to buy pumps and hoses to drain the yard.
Speckman said they asked for the developer’s help, but that the company denied it was causing a problem.
Elite Land Development, the firm behind Noelting Estates, did not return a request for comment.
Speckman said Bodkin has been helpful, however.
“She really was our police,” Speckman said. “They had to answer her phone calls.”
The developer started work to improve the situation that Speckman hopes will be completed by spring.
She feels new developments and the money they bring into the county cause officials to forget about those who are already there.
“Everyone keeps talking about responsible growth, and I really don’t feel like it’s taken seriously,” she said.
Top priority
Harold Gibson, owner and president of Greenfield-based H. Gibson Land Surveying, assists many developers with projects in Hancock County.
“It’s a question that arises every time on every project,” Gibson said of drainage.
The Hancock County area faces very difficult surface drainage conditions, he continued.
“Our area is very flat, relatively speaking,” he said. “Our soils are very clay-type soils, so we don’t get a lot of absorption. So if there’s any areas where water gets trapped, it just stands there and has no other way to get away other than evaporation.”
Drainage is often the first thing he explores when someone contacts him about acquiring a property. He looks at the outlet, whether it’s a ditch or tile. If it’s tile, he looks at its size, age and material. If it’s a ditch, he considers whether any trees would need to be cleared. He also asks if the developer can afford to lose however much of the property is needed for stormwater drainage.
“All of this is contemplated in this very detailed drainage ordinance that we have to follow,” he said.
Gibson is familiar with residents’ concerns about drainage.
“One thing we know is happening is the amount of water we get in storms is not decreasing,” he said.
So if a ditch can’t handle what it did years ago, it’s not uncommon for nearby property owners to think a nearby project will make matters worse.
“Not necessarily, because our project has to restrict water greater than what’s flowing there now,” Gibson said.
Sometimes developers will improve existing ditches, he added, as was agreed to for a new neighborhood planned near Philadelphia.
Going underground
Greenfield’s drainage rules are similar to the county’s and also aim to protect existing properties.
Jason Koch, city engineer, said drainage is always part of plans developers put together that outline a project’s utilities.
“The most complicated part of that is drainage, to be honest, because we do have a stormwater ordinance that’s very technical,” Koch said. “Probably one of the newest set of standards as far as all utilities go, and a lot more moving parts to it than your normal water, wastewater, electrical stuff.”
Drainage reports make up part of that work too.
“They go through a whole extensive list of calculations to prove to us that they are going to meet our stormwater ordinance, which has all these protections for adjacent landowners and landowners that are on that stream or creek that this would ultimately drain into,” Koch said.
An engineer the city contracts with reviews those reports as well before city officials consider approval of the proposal.
“When we get to the point of the plan commission, we’re pretty close to confident that those drainage calculations have been reviewed extensively and should protect the interests of folks nearby,” Koch said.
The city requires any water coming off a development site be restricted to 0.1 cubic feet of flow per second.
“Basically we have these standards that restrict how much water can flow off the site at any one time during any one storm,” Koch said.
In addition to detention ponds, another way to discharge stormwater responsibly is via underground storage, Koch said, adding it’s particularly effective for smaller sites, like restaurants. Large pipes underground release the stormwater at a controlled rate. Currently, 8-foot diameter pipes for that purpose await burial at the future Depot Street Park site.
Koch said the city follows developers through their projects to ensure they’re up to standard. When infrastructure work is completed, the Greenfield Board of Public Works and Safety is petitioned to accept the improvements so they can be dedicated to the city.
“So we’re very vested in making sure it gets done right, because once it’s built and once we accept it, it’s ours,” Koch said.
The city’s stormwater ordinance was adopted almost 15 years ago. Prior to that, Greenfield lacked strong standards, Koch continued.
“So a lot of these areas developed without drainage necessarily in mind,” he said.
Much like throughout the county, it’s led to concerns from residents of poorly drained areas when nearby developments are proposed.
It also calls for spot improvements as funding allows.
That was the case recently near the Robin Lane home of Pam Baker, who’s watched her front yard and driveway flood during rains for almost 20 years. Water often flowed down the hill across the street from her property bordering houses in the Sherwood subdivision. Drain pipes also empty down onto the hill, diverting water from Sherwood.
The city recently carried out work on the hill and the road, which has helped, Baker said, adding the city has also talked to her about improving the level of her yard. She thinks the city should replace her driveway from the deterioration it’s undergone from flooding over the years as well, however.
“It did get a lot of water off of me,” Baker said of the improvements.
