This is a letter that was prepared by Darnell L. Turner and Loren Eisner. It was presented at the Macedonia City Council meeting on July 27. You can see the video here.
When Eugene Faber spoke with Mayor Migliorini or someone in his office, he was told that Mayor Migliorini responded to Loren Eisner’s letter via email, but that never happened. Loren Eisner’s correspondence only included his address and phone number. He never gave them an email address. In his letter to the editor, he stated that he had made follow-up calls to the mayor’s office and never received a response. However, when he saw the mayor in early November, he mentioned that he was still concerned about the Pulte Home development without ever having a public hearing, and the mayor responded by stating that the drainage concerns were all taken care of (by having retention ponds).
Four years ago, Faith Fellowship church proposed building a retirement community on their property. There was a hearing (Do not know the exact date) but it was recorded and Loren Eisner was on the TV showing of that council meeting. He explained that his concerns were the drainage where dirt from the church’s property was draining into our lake. The church’s minister and another church representative were present at the hearing and gave an initial presentation.(one presented and one made comments). The mayor stated it was a serious problem and that after the meeting Loren Eisner should see him and two of his department heads. His department heads were gone by the end of the meeting, however, Loren Eisner gave the mayor photos. Six weeks later Loren spoke to the mayor again and told him that he had not heard anything. A week or two after that someone called Loren and said Summit county would be contacting him. He was never given a name, department, or phone number, so at that point Loren felt that no action was being taken.
When news surfaced that the church was looking to sell part of their property to a new home developer, Loren Eisner wrote to Mayor Migliorini, clearly stating that the overflow from the church’s pond drains under Valley View Rd into the lake at the Preserves of Valley View. He said that during heavy rains, dirt still flows into The Preserve of Valley View lake.
Loren than wrote that after the Kimball Hill development (The Preserves at Valley View), was built, the lake level at the mouth of the lake was shallow. Loren could paddle his kayak all the way up to the mouth where the drain pipe enters the lake. By last year dirt had filled much of the mouth and was accumulating along the eastern shore line. If the city had acted 3 years earlier and the church was willing to or told to correct the drainage issue, none of that damage would have occurred.
The mayor had told Loren that the drainage issue was addressed and resolved without needing a public hearing. Now that the land has been stripped and being excavated, it became very, very obvious on July 22, 2017, that the drainage issues were not properly addressed or resolved. It was like a west coast mountain mudslide of dirt, logs or small tree limbs, being washed into the lake at a very fast pace. The fast moving river of mud continued at a fast pace for 10 hours or more. It slowed down, but even late Tuesday afternoon muddy water was still entering the lake. By Wednesday afternoon it was only a trickle.
In addition, the sewers at the lower end of Valley View overflowed with mud water from the construction site and drained onto the streets at the lower end of the Preserves at Valley View. (The lake is at the upper end of the development).
Phone calls to the mayor’s office lit up on or by Monday, and the city was quick to contact Pulte Homes and on Tuesday, Pulte had street cleaners out to clean and sweep our roads.
On Monday morning, Loren walked over to the Pulte development, and brought a county engineer department named Perry, back to our development to show him the lake and its condition. Then he took him back over to the construction side to show him where the water drains from Pulte’s or the church’s property. He was completely unaware of where the water drained from, until he could hear it and see it flow out of the church’s (or maybe now Pulte’s) pond. You could see wood or logs that were washed out of the pond and could be pushed into the storm sewer that drains into the Preserve’s lake. Perry said that he will go to the backend of the construction site where they were working, and tell the excavator supervisor that they need to put up restraining fencing to stop the flow of mud from the hillside from going into the pond. He also told Loren that if the restraining fencing is not installed, he could report it to Summit soil and Water. The residents of The Preserve At Valley View have not done that yet.
Even though there was and is restraining fencing along the perimeter of the property, it appears that the city failed on its survey of the property.
On Tuesday evening Loren Eisner and Darnell Turner walked over to the property. Loren then showed Darnell where the pond overflow was located as it is hidden behind shrubbery. They walked to the backside and Loren showed Darnell where the water originates that goes into the pond. The entry point was at the bottom of a downhill slope. At the end facing the entry point, there still was no restraining fencing, but you could see that a lot of the earth was eroded. On the left side there was a restraining fence, where the dirt came within an inch or two of the top. On the right side the restraining fencing was laying flat on the ground (had been washed over).
So if the city had used due diligence all of this could have been avoided.
Obviously the city inspectors or engineering department missed it.
SO WHO IS RESPONSIBLE? Obviously, the most serious damage occurred this past weekend, so Pulte has a responsibility to correct it. The city has failed to fulfill its responsibility both within the past year and also from four years ago. The church was made aware of overflow from their property doing harm to a neighbor’s property and did nothing about it. And to a lesser degree some erosion into the lake occurred while the Preserves at Valley View was being developed although they did have restraining fencing around all lots built near the lake.
The solution is to have the lake dredged. The amount of required dredging is open for discussion. I would say that the lake was 3-4 feet deep near the island on the eastern shoreline and 7-8 deep in the middle on the western side of the island. Loren’s estimate from when he kayaked in the lake 6-8 years ago. The residents of The Preserve At Valley View have no idea what the current depths are, but we do know that the water level is high for the summertime.
The residents of The Preserve At Valley View want a quick solution to this problem as the lake’s condition distracts greatly from the developments appearance. In its present condition the conditions would devalue the homeowner’s property. The residents of The Preserve At Valley View would like to get all involved parties to share in the costs or repairs, and want the city to offer a solution so that the homeowner association does not need to get their attorneys involved.
Certain areas could be cleaned out with a normal backhoe with a reach of 10-12 feet. Other areas will need a heavy duty piece of equipment with a 20-30 foot reach, and could require the removal of a tree or two to get the equipment into the mouth area.
THE MOUTH IS DEFINED AS WHERE THE STORM SEWER AND LAKE MEET. THE POND IS REFERRED TO AS THE SMALL LAKE ON THE PULTE/ FAITH FELLOWSHIP CHURCH SIDE OF THE STREET. THE LAKE IS REFERRED TO AS THE BODY OF WATER IN THE PRESERVES AT VALLEY VIEW.
Photos by Loren Eisner
