Engineering consultant shares findings on Green Valley, Bluff Park flooding

A private engineering company hired by the city of Hoover to study stormwater flooding problems in the Green Valley and Bluff Park communities shared their findings with the public Thursday night.

About 75 people attended a public meeting at Hoover City Hall to review the results of the study, which began about a year ago — before the flooding events of this year.

William Thomas, a senior project manager for Schoel Engineering, addressed flooding concerns in four parts of Green Valley (Napier Drive, Mockingbird Lane, Star Lake and Whispering Pines Circle) and two streets in Bluff Park (Linda Avenue and Rockview Lane).

Thomas outlined the problems in each area, which included undersized and damaged drainage pipes and culverts, low banks on drainage ditches, pipes and culverts being blocked with debris, and excess water runoff diverting to places where water was not designed to go.

One drainage culvert that led to Paulette Drive was so filled with rock and other debris that in some places it could hold only about 6 inches of water instead of the 2 to 2½ feet for which it was designed, Thomas said.

Schoel Engineering made a variety of recommendations to help remedy problems, including adding some relief culverts, adding a new headwall to an existing culvert, removing debris from culverts and pipes, enlarging at least one drainage ditch, adding concrete pipes to increase water flow at bottlenecks, replacing existing culverts with larger ones, and adding walls or berms at certain locations to protect houses.

At Star Lake, Schoel recommends adding another “barrel” to release water from the lake at a lower level, which would lower the lake level a little bit and provide more storage capacity for rain events.

Schoel Engineering still is putting together its final report to the city and expects to have that by the end of this year, Thomas said.

Hoover City Administator Allan Rice said the city’s engineering staff will prioritize the recommendations and get cost estimates. The City Council will determine what projects actually to pursue and when, Rice said.“Clearly, it can’t all be done at one time,” Rice said.

However, Rice noted that the City Council already has allocated more than $2 million for emergency repairs, and some of those projects already have been completed.

City Attorney Phillip Corley expressed sympathy to everyone who has suffered loss due to flooding and noted that many of the homes in the affected areas were built in the early 1960s before the city of Hoover even formed. While property was annexed into the city, the city did not accept responsibility for many of the storm easements, Corley said.

The city does not own the vast majority of the drainage pipes in the city and has no duty to maintain drainage areas on private property, he said. Just because the city approves drainage plans for a subdivision does not mean the city is obligated to maintain the drainage system, he said.

Also, the Alabama Supreme Court has determined that governments are prohibited from doing work on private property unless there is some “public purpose” for doing so. There is no fixed definition for “public purpose,” except that it promotes the public health, safety, morals, security, prosperity, contentment and general welfare of the community, Corley said.

The “public purpose” also should benefit a “significant part of the public,” not just one individuals or a few individuals, Corley said.

However, the Alabama Supreme Court also has noted that “the trend among modern courts is to give the term ‘public purpose’ a broad expansive definition.”

The city and its legal team are reviewing each stormwater complaint on a case-by-case basis to determine whether the issue with each complaint is on public or private property and whether there would be a “public purpose” for taking action, Corley said. The final determination is made by the City Council, he said.

One man at Thursday’s meeting said he would be willing to sell the city the part of his property that contains a creek if that meant the city could provide some relief from flooding.

Another man said the city has not been doing a good job of maintaining drainage systems that are on city property and asked if the city was going to do better.

Rice said city staff have found some drainage systems on public rights of way that were not being maintained properly and is reorganizing staff and redeploying resources to make sure the city is addressing those needs.

Corley, in an article written for The Alabama Municipal Journal in the fall of 2020, wrote that municipalities may be held liable for damages caused by their negligence in the operation and maintenance of stormwater drains within their control if the municipality does not properly maintain such stormwater drains.

Green Valley resident Matthew Smith asked what the city does with stormwater fees residents must pay with their property taxes. Rice said the city collects about $700,000 a year in stormwater fees and must use that money only for stormwater improvements.

Some residents said part of the problem appears to be with Patton Creek, which can’t handle the volume of rain the city is experiencing when combined with the development of new parking lots and buildings.

Rice said the city of Hoover doesn’t have the money to fix issues with Patton Creek, but city officials are exploring a Federal Emergency Management Agency program that might be able to provide some remediation for Patton Creek.

Some residents noted that Patton Creek flows into Paradise Lake off John Hawkins Parkway and asked if Paradise Lake could be dredged to increase its capacity to handle heavy rains. Rice said Paradise Lake is privately owned.

Rice also noted that city officials are concerned about the impact of the Jefferson County construction project on Patton Chapel Road on stormwater flow. City officials already have been in contact with county officials about that issue and have a meeting scheduled with the county manager and county engineer for Friday, Nov. 19, to discuss those concerns, he said.

Melissa Watts, a resident on Patton Chapel Road, said Schoel Engineering has done a phenomenal job studying the issues in Green Valley, “but I think it’s a drop in the bucket.

“Now, the ball is in the council’s and city’s court,” Watts said. “We’re going to see if they’re just going to put lipstick on a pig and hope that we don’t notice.”

Whether they take further action to actually correct problems is the question, she said.