Bolte Crossing residents address Cullman City Council about neighborhood flooding
CULLMAN, Ala. – The Cullman City Council on Monday night got an earful about flooding in Bolte Crossing, a new residential development on Bolte Road on the city’s southeast side. Residents complained about rainwater routinely flooding both streets and yards in the neighborhood.
Representing the Bolte Crossing Homeowners’ Association, resident Ann Swayka delivered the following message verbally and in writing to the council:
“We appreciate the opportunity to present our drainage and flooding issues to the Cullman mayor and council members. Attached you will find photos of representation of the backyards, front yards and street flooding in Phase 1 of the Bolte Crossing subdivision.
“These flooding and drainage issues have been an ongoing problem in our subdivision since we purchased and moved into our new homes. Rausch Coleman Homes recently was acquired by Lennar Homes, and we have been continually asking them to resolve this issue over the past year.
“We’ve been told the flooding should go down after 48 hours. This is obviously not fixing the drainage and flooding rivers we have flowing through our backyards and front yards. It takes approximately five days of no rain for our backyards to be somewhat useable, albeit a muddy mess still. We have consulted with several landscaping companies, all of whom have stated that the grading in our backyards was done incorrectly and that to fix this issue, more dirt with relaying of sod and installation of drain tiles is necessary to correct the problem.
“This issue is an issue that is affecting every home in the Bolte Crossing HOA. Since we have little input in our HOA due to it being under Lennar’s developer control, we are asking for your assistance in this matter. We understand that the City of Cullman engineers are presently working with Lennar engineers trying to resolve this drainage and flooding issues of the streets. We just really want to make sure that not only street flooding and drainage is addressed. But also, our backyards and front yards drainage and flooding are addressed.
“Thanks so much for your time and consideration. We appreciate your commitment to the residents of Cullman, and we look forward to resolving this issue and making our HOA one of the best communities Cullman has to offer.”
Another resident, Jessica Pennington, said that Lennar Homes had just told her to wait for her yard to dry out, and that the developer had requested residents not to talk to outside entities about the issue.
The council called City Engineer Erica York to the microphone to respond. York told the residents that she has seen the issue for herself, and that the City is working with Lennar Homes to resolve the matter.
York told the residents, “We have obviously let them know that this is unacceptable. We’ve also let them know that they have to correct this immediately. And they are working, they are actively working to correct it. I’ve been on-site with both the developer and the consultant engineer, as well as the design engineer of record. We’ve all been collaborating on this effort to try and get this resolved.”
York said that the first issue addressed was grading of the land in the back of the subdivision that failed to direct water toward holding ponds, and that the developer had built a berm to redirect runoff properly. The second step in the response will be a LiDAR scan of the current topography, currently underway, that will be compared to the originally approved site plan “to make sure that the lots are graded properly.” The developer has also been tasked to evaluate culverts installed in the neighborhood for proper drainage capacity.
York said that she felt like the developer was currently demonstrating a genuine desire to help the residents, and that her office will stay in contact with them to make sure the problem is resolved.
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