10-19-93 CCM - Laserfiche WebLink

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lowed to increase the vomme or rare of rainwater runoff in the city. City officials deny that they have failed to keep up with the rapid de-' velopment in one of the fastest -grow- ing cities in the metropolitan area and contend that the unusually wet summer is the cause. "It was the rain!" said Joseph Ander- lik, the city's engineering consultant at Bonestroo, Rosene, Anderlik & Associates in Roseville. But Molly Shodeen, a state DNR hydrologist, said water began pond- , ing in the area in May, before the heavy rain started. Residents on both sides of the lake, who live in houses valued from ;$,150,000 to $350,000, have been on edge since the summer. "We're really sad about losing the trees, but the ¢hought of having water come up to `the house and having to be evacuated 5s a much greater concern," Dagni Yze said as she looked at the water .through her kitchen window. !Her husband, David, said neighbors °ire considering filing lawsuits. "None' of us wants a lawsuit, we just want to end up the way they found us," he said. a aWith nearly 1,000 homes built last ?year, Woodbury became the metro- politan area's third -fastest growing city, and the growth is continuing ;this year. p ,When this past summer's rain ran bff roofs and pavement instead of Into the ground, it flowed into a `system that Shodeen said has not kept pace. "The volume of water ,exceeded the planning process," she laid. "It's so evident, it doesn't take a aitydrologist to figure it out." A [She and other DNR officials visited the area in May to help the city develop the plan to turn a marshy area into a storm water holding pond in three years. But the area, which vas to be named Bailey Lake, already vas holding water, she said, even +though the rain had not started. had already exceeded the plan," said. "Then we r "he rains, and planning became backpedaling." Although unexpected consequences from development sometimes hap- pened years ago, she said, "I don't think it's very responsible in this day and age. They should have had a better handle on it" The lake starts at Bailey Rd. on the north and has overflowed and closed Dale Rd. on the south. The city did not expect the lake to be full until 1996, said city engineering technician John Luckfield. It is the southernmost and last in a chain of lakes that drain not only two-thirds of Woodbury but also parts of Lake Elmo and Oakdale to the north. The water has killed more than 100 bur oak trees around the lake that are more than a century old, a rare rem- nant of the prairie that once existed. Luckfield said city officials decided this past spring at the urging of Sho- deen and other DNR officials to low- er the planned lake level of 870 feet to 868 feet above sea level to pre- serve the trees. way auvwu yaww .emu. a.a. yw.q upset about the loss of those trees." Luckfield said the city has not calcu- lated what the problem will cost The lake level must be lowered this fall, he said, so the lake can accommodate runoff from the spring thaw next year without inundating the homes or their septic systems. Although the city has been planning since 1979 to create the holding pond that would be called. Bailey Lake, officials realized this year that the mile -long area would have to be ex- tended another half mile, south of Dale Rd. He said the new area would cover more than 25 acres. The city does not yet know what the addition- al area will cost, he said. Water control devices to direct the flow southward into Cottage Grove are to be built next year, Luckfield said. Eventually, the water runoff from Woodbury will flow into the Mississippi River. To get to the river, Bailey Lake must be drained through the property of Dean and Julie Fermenick, who own one of the two houses being pur- chased by the city. They were shocked when the city told them in the spring that they had to move from the house they have lived in for 25 years. "We had lost control of our lives," Dean Fermenick said. "There were a lot of sleepless nights, a lot of anger and frustration because we couldn't do anything about it." He said they realized that "we were like the plug in the tub. They couldn't run the water around us," so they had to move so the city could pull the plug. "Now it's over and done with," Fer- menick said. They'll move Thursday into a town- house to await completion of their new house about a mile up Dale Rd., safely "up on higher ground," he said. "They can't put a lake on [that] without flooding the whole county."