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In 1987, a new house was built on 525 Orchard Park Road and tlicrc has been speculation that <br />the draintile system may have been damaged during the driveway construction. However, we do <br />not liave any positive proof that the draintile was damage*;! at this time. The Pinnacle Report <br />alleges that in 1994 the propc ty owner of 615 Orchard Park Road did work that impacted the <br />drainage in this area. In my recent phone conversation, this property owner stated that he has not <br />done anything impact the drainage in this area. Since this area is all private property, any <br />drainage projects would require casements from the property owners, and this property owner is <br />not interested in granting any easements for a drainage project. <br />Conclusion and Recommendations <br />This area was draintiled in the I950 ’s, the exact location and type of system in.stalled is unknown <br />along v/ith how good the system actually did function. Common practice at that time was to <br />install short lengths of clay pipe for draintile systems. This system is 50 years now, and the fact <br />that it is not functioning properly anymore is not surprising. There have been differing opinions <br />and allegation presented regarding this situation which docs not provide any conclusive proof of <br />exactly what has transpired in this area. This area is all private property with almost all of water <br />draining olT private property, with only a very minimal amount of water draining from City or <br />County Roads, llie acquisition of casements would be required in order to complete a drainage <br />project and obtaining cooperation from all of the property owners could be difficult. <br />lire City’s policy for selecting drainage projects over the past several years has been to rank <br />projects in the following priority order. <br />• Projects to prevent flooding of structures. (No buildings arc being threatened by the water <br />levels in this area.) <br />• Projects to pre^•ent or correct erosion problems. (There is no existing erosion or the <br />potential for future erosion in this area.) <br />• Projects to correct wet areas with no structure damage or erosion are the lowest priority <br />In addition, the City funded drainage projects selected over the past several years were in high <br />density developed areas with substantial drainage from City streets. Tliis project is in the low <br />density 5 acre zoning area with virtually no public road drainage causing problems. <br />Another consideration is the high value the City places on wetlands and ponds to reduce peak <br />Hows and improve water quality, so the completion of a project to drain a wetland and convey <br />stormwater Rows downstream faster is not in conformance with Orono ’s values and policies. <br />'Ilie City’s long term plan is for more ponding to treat stormwater. <br />Al.so before the 1950 ’s draintile installation to allow farming this area was wetlands, and witli tlic <br />draintile failure is reverting back to the previous natural conditions. <br />'I’hc staff recommendation is that this drainage i.ssue is a low priority in terms of the City’s <br />overall goals and policies for wetland protection, stormwater treatment, drainage goals, and the <br />current drainage situations.