Waukon City Council meets with engineer to discuss 3rd Street NE

by Bob Beach

During its regular meeting Monday, July 21 the Waukon City Council met with Lyle TeKippe of TeKippe Engineering (a division of Fehr Graham Engineering) to discuss ongoing problems with the paving of Third Street Northeast. Since the completion of the project, several residents have complained that storm water from the street now finds its way into their driveways, yards, garages and homes. TeKippe said that part of the challenge in paving the street was that the homes on one side of the street are significantly lower than the homes on the other side of the street. He said that prior to the recent paving, the cross slope of the street was irregular to allow for that difference, whereas the new street has a standard two percent cross slope. He said that the result is that some of the homes are now below the street level and that the alternative would have been unacceptably steep driveways on the other side of the street. He further explained that another part of the problem is that there is not enough storm sewer capacity to handle heavy rains. He said that some improvements had been made since the heavy rains in late June but that there is "no easy answer for all conditions." He said that he would look at individual situations to see what further improvements could be made to improve drainage.
"The way it is now is not acceptable," said Councilman Steve Wiedner. "I want to make those people happy after all the stress they've been through." He presented the Council with a written motion that was shared with TeKippe but was not read out loud or otherwise shared with others at the meeting.
Asked for his opinion about Wiedner's motion, City Attorney Jim Garrett said that if the Council has concerns about the professional guidance it has received, it would be reasonable to consult with another engineer, but added that he didn't know that the project could have been done better.
TeKippe said that if the budget for the project had been unlimited, the project could have been done better by adding capacity to the storm sewer, but that would have expanded the storm sewer part of the project into downtown.
Former mayor Keith Schroeder, whose home is located on Third Street Northeast, said that his home is now 13 inches below the road. He said that prior to the recent paving project, the flow of rain water was fairly even on both sides of the street, adding that the homes on one side of the street had been sacrificed to rain water so that homes on the other side of the street wouldn't have steep driveways. "The only solution is to tear out the whole street and start over," he said. "All we ask is that the street be done right."
TeKippe responded that if the street were lowered as Schroeder suggested, freezing of water lines beneath the street would become a concern. He also reiterated that the driveways on one side of the street would need to be made unduly steep. "You'd be exchanging one unacceptable condition for another," he said.
Councilman Trent Mitchell said that he would like to give TeKippe a chance to fix the problems in a timely manner. Wiedner's motion died for lack of a second and TeKippe agreed to look further into the problems. The Council voted to withhold payment to Fehr Graham for the engineering on the project as well as a payment to Skyline Construction for its work on the project. The Council also scheduled a special meeting for Monday, August 4 at 6 p.m. to meet with TeKippe and a representative from Skyline Construction.
The Council also held a public hearing regarding property recently purchased by Innovative Ag Services and annexed to the City. Hearing no comments about adding the property to the Southeast Urban Renewal Area, the public hearing was closed. The Council then passed a resolution to add the property to the Southeast Urban Renewal Area, passed an ordinance regarding TIF revenue from the property and an ordinance to change the zoning district classification of the property from residential (R-2) to manufacturing (M-1). The Council also scheduled a public hearing for August 4 regarding the development agreement with Innovative Ag Service.
In other business, the Council discussed its policy to refund a portion of water bills in cases where charges are more than five times more than average. Councilman Mitchell said that such leaks are the responsibility of property owners and the refunded money could be better spent on other things. Councilman Don Steffens said that he agreed that leaks are the responsibility of property owners but suggested that the policy should be left as it is and the Council could determine if refunds are warranted on a a case-by-case basis. After some discussion, the Council agreed to alter the policy to allow for refunds, but only once. City Attorney Garrett agreed to draft a new policy for the Council's consideration.