Inquirer: ‘Spillway’ in curb sends water into homeowner’s crawlspace

A Concerned homeowner named Jackie has water problem that she thinks the city should do something about.

The curbing along Arrington Drive isn’t the kind made of sections of granite. It’s poured concrete that slopes from people’s yards down to the asphalt, creating a channel for rainwater to run down into a storm drain. Problem is, there is a break at the corner of Jackie’s property, a “spillway,” as she describes it, that allows water to flow into her yard, eroding soil beneath her privacy fence and eventually ending up in the crawlspace beneath her house.

Jackie said she has called the city and spoken with several people in at least a couple of departments, but that she’s gotten no concrete, so to speak, answers. She mentioned public works, engineering and, for whatever reason, risk management. I guess the latter would become involved maybe because water’s getting into the crawlspace, which can cause mold problems. Water plus a lack of light is a formula for growing mold, and it can cause expensive and unhealthy problems.

Jackie also said one of the people with the city said that because the spillway was there before the house was built, it might not be the city’s problem. It might be Jackie’s problem.

In some ways, that might be fine, because any reasonably handy person could fix the problem with a 2-by-6 and, couple of bags of Quikrete and a trowel. But you can’t go around plugging up such things on city property. They frown on that. And they probably frown on jack-leg repairs to their curbs and gutters.

So I called Donna Newman, the director of engineering for the city, hoping to find out what the city’s position is on the situation. As it turned out, Newman’s department had just been handed the situation for it to be analyzed. She said she would send people out there to look the situation over. She said she’d let me know how it turns out.

Then I’ll let you know. And Jackie.

Update

You will remember recent columns about our City Village pioneer friend Lisa. She had asked the city to clean up some of the many lots it owns in the area between TSYS and Bibb City, and it apparently has. But she got as citation of her own to get rid of a large hunk of concrete with rebar sticking out of it in her yard.

I rode by on Sunday and not only was Lisa’s concrete busted up, but I saw several lots that had been overgrown but are now freshly mowed. And a pile of concrete that someone had dumped on a city lot next to Lisa’s had been removed and the area strewn with fresh straw.

It still doesn’t look like Green Island, but it looks a darn sight better.

Seen something that needs attention? Contact me at 706-571-8570 or mowen@ledger-enquirer.com.

This story was originally published April 18, 2016 at 8:20 AM with the headline "Inquirer: ‘Spillway’ in curb sends water into homeowner’s crawlspace."