PETERSVILLE — Bartholomew County is taking steps to alleviate drainage problems in Royal View subdivision, near where a new county garage is planned.
Bartholomew County Commissioner Larry Kleinhenz said the subdivision residents in Petersville have put up with drainage issues since the neighborhood was created in the early 1970s.
But now that the county has decided to build a new highway garage just east of the subdivision, the commissioners have agreed to authorize repairs that may alleviate much of Royal View’s flooding problems.
The work will involve taking a look at repairs to a low, marshy area on the subdivision’s border installed about 15 years ago, Kleinhenz said. While the swale did initially help with drainage, the county has not legally had the authority to perform maintenance there because the county didn’t own the land, Kleinhenz said.
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New agreements allow the county to repair and maintain drainage on land owned by the Solid Waste Management District and farmer Anthony J. Harden, who owns more than 20 acres on the subdivision’s north side.
Harden’s farm is on a higher elevation than Royal View, and slopes toward the subdivision, Commissioner Carl Lienhoop said. Efforts will be made to intercept some of the surface water from Harden’s farm fields, to prevent the water from flowing down on to Royal View yards, Lienhoop said.
An analysis by Bartholomew County Highway Department technical supervisor Stacey Gross is expected to explain why standing water in many Royal View yards sticks around longer than normal.
But even without the analysis, Kleinhenz says he’s pretty sure what the main problems are at Royal View.
“Over the years with mowing and dumping, the drainage ditches have been filled in and water is just having trouble getting out of the subdivision,” Kleinhenz said. “In addition, a lot of the drainage pipes underneath the driveways have collapsed.”
While clearing out the ditches could be done immediately, Kleinhenz said a plan to repair driveway pipes will be developed at a later date.
Efforts to fix most of the long-standing drainage issues must be completed before the county can move forward with a new highway garage east of the Clay Township Volunteer Fire Department on East 25th Street, Kleinhenz said.
Commissioner Rick Flohr said the efforts are also being made to assure Petersville residents that county government will be a good neighbor.
About 107 people have already signed a petition started by Royal View resident Heather Logan that asks that the highway garage not be built near Petersville.
While Logan says the improvements promised by the commissioners will be great if they are indeed carried out, she still doesn’t want the highway garage next to her neighborhood.
Logan emphasized that the petition created in December lists a number of other objections including:
Unwelcome changes to family-oriented, peaceful, country setting
Potential danger to neighborhood children
An adverse impact on home property values
Increasing 25th Street traffic
The presence of heavy equipment such as dump trucks/pay-loaders, as well as chemical storage facilities
Additional noise and light
“We all can see what they built on State Street,” said Logan in regard to the current highway garage on Gladstone Avenue. “That’s why they want to bring it out here.”
