York Town News
And the pricetag is: $37.7 million
By Larry Favinger and Jennifer L. Saunders
YORK BEACH - It's been more than a year in the making, but the study of the town's well-document drainage and flooding woes has been completed, and the outlook is anything but pretty.The remedy to some of the town's flooding, particularly in the York Beach area, was detailed Monday night, Sept. 11, at the Board of Selectmen's meeting - as was the potential cost.
Steve Bradstreet of the Portland-based firm Edwards and Kelcey told the board that to fix the magnitude of problems in and around York Beach has a bottom line pricetag of about $37.7 million.
The study of the town's current drainage system to deal with stormwater and other runoff has taken more than a year to prepare. The report looks at all aspects of the problem, including the continued development of parcels integral to slowing the tide of runoff waters.
The report's recommendations included changes in the number of outfalls on Long Sands Beach, improvement of the outfall at Short Sands, replacement of inadequate culverts and the prohibition of development below elevation 12.
Bradstreet and Bob Hunter, also of Edwards and Kelcey, said most of York Beach is built on sand dunes and that development has restricted the natural drainage of the area. Water still gathers where it always has, however, in back of the dunes, flooding the area.
While part of the plan comes with a high pricetag, Bradstreet, Hunter and Public Works Director Bill Bray pointed out that there are things the town can do now and in the near future - including drafting ordinances prohibiting additional development within certain elevations of the flood-prone areas noted.
Using a graphic image, Bradstreet showed those areas below elevation 12 that will flood and flood again - areas encompassing a huge portion of the already-developed are of Short Sands and Long Sands. To begin to remedy the situation, Bradstreet and Hunter said the town needs ordinances to help protect areas vital to proper drainage, or the problems will only get worse.
"We should be trying to get them in place right now," Bradstreet said, citing such initiatives as new ordinances to curb development and conservation and access easements of undeveloped land.
A key part of the process, Bradstreet said, is to control and define those areas so they are not developed further.
"We think there should be no new construction under elevation 12," Hunter said, adding that includes rebuilding and extensive remodeling. However, the beach is located within the town's designated growth zone, where in-filling existing neighborhoods with additional residences is recommended in the town's Comprehensive Plan.
In those cases where structures are expanded or rebuilt, Hunter said, the town's ordinances should require the buildings to be raised above elevation 12.
Hunter termed York Beach during the Mother's Day weekend storm as "a mini-New Orleans" in that development there below elevation 12 restricted the natural flow.
It is a comment many residents have voiced for quite some time. Most recently, for example, a group of more than a dozen residents drafted a letter to Code Enforcement Officer Tim DeCoteau to send an application for two dwellings on a vacant lot of approximately 19 acres in size, located at 276 Long Sands Road, to the town's Planning Board for review and to hold a public hearing on the proposal. The letter, drafted by Russell Desmond and signed by a number of residents in the area of Desmond Lane, cited current flooding conditions, as evidenced in the Mother's Day storm, as a reason to deny additional building in the area or at least require Planning Board approval.
DeCoteau said, however, there is nothing in the town's ordinances to deny such an application at the Code Enforcement Office level or to require Planning Board review.
Town Planner Steve Burns confirmed that the parcel in question is not in the town's 100-year floodplain, and DeCoteau noted that until such time as the town's ordinances are changed regarding drainage, the town has no grounds to deny new applications based on existing drainage problems.
"We have received approximately six letters opposing the permit, but have not yet found an ordinance violation that would prevent them from being issued," DeCoteau said when a letter signed by a number of the nearby residents was drafted last month.
Upon reviewing the letter last month, Town Manager Rob Yandow said the town is aware of the drainage concerns and there will be conditions attached to the building permits that will require an adequate and acceptable drainage plan before any occupancy permit is issued.
Looking to the York Beach drainage issue as a whole, despite the staggering price estimate for the full remediation, there is, Bradstreet and Hunter said, work that can be done at critical problem areas that will take money, "but not the kind of money you'll see in the rest of the study."
In addition to new ordinances, that work includes the use of temporary barriers at York Beach during the winter to protect the parking lot and the businesses and other areas beyond it; obtaining access easements around water courses and conservation easements around wetlands; the creation of a possible stormwater utility fee based on the amount of impervious area developments create within the area; upland systems upgrades, and stream, culvert and control structures, for what Bradstreet estimated at a $2 million bill for the town.
The increase to nearly $38 million comes with the massive undertaking of reconfiguring and rebuilding the outflows along the beaches, according to the presentation. The major work in the changing of the outflows could be accomplished in stages, the engineers said, which would include using gravity systems at first and constructing outflows in a way that pumps could be added later for tidal and storm surge events.
Funding options for the overall program were also discussed in the report, copies of which will be available for study at Town Hall or the York Public Library in the weeks ahead. These funding sources included federal and state grants and the possible establishment of a stormwater utility.
Selectman Torbert Macdonald, Jr., said this is "a study that points the way" for the town as it shows who is suffering most and what needs to be done to fix the problems. He said the town must "make rational moves to do it."
Selectman Len Dorrian said this work would have a significant impact on the town as the cost is equal to the funds proposed in the entire capital plan in place for the next five years.
Selectman Mike Estes pointed out that there is a substantial placeholder included in the plan - to the tune of $10 million - toward the drainage work.
"Some serious money is going to have to be spent," Estes said.
Yandow said more discussion is needed on the report and its ramifications and the town should establish a process to deal with the recommendations. As to changes in the ordinances, he said, that will take some time and such changes will not be ready to present to the voters until a year from now.
"We don't have the answers," Selectmen Chairman David Marshall said in conclusion, "but it's good to know the questions."
The selectmen agreed they will discuss the issue in more detail before taking any action.
