County Commissioners Hear About Neighborhood Flooding Issue On Tippy Lake
February 5, 2020 at 2:50 a.m.
By David [email protected]
The commissioners agreed to continue looking at the flooding in Ducunee Village, around T13B Lane, with County Surveyor Mike Kissinger and Highway Superintendent Mike Moriarty.
Joe Lenon, who lives at 91 EMS T13B Lane in Leesburg, said the road that goes back to the addition floods “quite a bit” and there are problems with accessing properties back there.
Robert Bowers, of 111 EMS T13B Lane, said he’s lived there for 23 years. Over the years, he said he’s witnessed the county road settle lower and lower. In 2019, he said there was water over the road for 72 days, and so far this year there’s been 11 days.
At 4 a.m. Jan. 11, Bowers said he was having chest pains and had to go to the emergency room, but couldn’t get an ambulance in so he had to walk through yards for a block.
“It’s just becoming a little bit of an issue,” Bowers said. “I know when the lake comes up, we live on the lake and it floods, but we’d maybe like to see if the county could raise the road or doing something so we can get in and out because it has become, over the last 10 years, a problem all the time.”
Commissioner Bob Conley asked him if the water got into his home at all, but he said no though the water does get over a foot above the county road.
Laura Lenon, Joe’s wife, said her parents bought back in the addition in 1985 and the property has been in the family since. The flooding has continued to get worse and never got better. The road was raised in 1987, but it caused more water to come down on their property. She showed the commissioners a variety of pictures of the flooding.
“It is a major issue that is down there, and we’ve been fighting this for years,” she said.
Laura Lenon said it would help if a seawall was put up on two vacant lots. She said she tried to reach the man who owned the lots, but was unsuccessful.
Conley said there was an issue there, but the lake level was as high or higher than her real estate. “That’s a situation, what do you suggest we do about it? You’re under water to begin with.” He asked her if the addition had a property owners association that could do something about the empty lots. There is no property owners or homeowners association for the addition.
Kissinger said he was familiar with the low lot they were talking about, but “I don’t know of any government entity that would be able to force them to be able to do anything like that. And by the way, even if that lot was filled in, I believe there is a seawall that has sanked on that lot. I’m pretty familiar with the area. Even if you did fill that in ... there’s two other little swales that probably would introduce water to the road also.”
He said the road is only a foot above lake level currently, so during a 100-year storm event, there would be two feet of water over the road. “By the way, that’s the record high for Tippecanoe Lake, is the 100-year flood elevation,” Kissinger said.
He didn’t see any drainage pipe solution to the flooding issue because “again you’re too low. You’re just at lake level. That lot that’s being mentioned is setting at lake level.”
Kissinger said he had no solutions for the dozen or so residents of the addition who were present.
There was some discussion about what the county could do and what was the responsibility of the Indiana Department of Natural Resources. Laura Lenon said if everyone put their heads together, they should be able to come up with some solution.
Moriarty said, “Anything that we do will have repercussions. So if we raise the road, it is going to affect water in people’s homes. And that’s something that’s a negative effect. We don’t want it to be there. At the same time, we do want to handle our concerns. And I do agree that getting back there is one of the major issues. Your water issue is also our water issue. And to come up with a solution is going to be very difficult just because we are on an island out there, road included.”
He said he would need to get some help to figure out a solution because he couldn’t come up with one.
Commissioner Brad Jackson said the county is responsible for the road, but if they raise the road that will create more problems. He said the DNR has control over the lakes, and Laura Lenon said she’s contacted the DNR and they’re aware of the problem and would be willing to work with the residents. She said she and the other residents “want a solution.”
Later in the approximate 40-minute discussion, Joe Lenon said he’s been out there 35 years and it’s never been this bad. He advocated for a seawall along the vacant two lots, even if the county had to take the property by eminent domain and put one in.
County attorney Chad Miner said the county’s ability to tell people what to do with their property is “pretty limited” so he didn’t think there was any mechanism for the county to go in and tell people to build a seawall. Joe Lenon said the county is responsible for the road and through traffic on that road.
Kissinger said, “The data doesn’t show that making changes to that lot is going to solve the problem. The data shows the water would enter another area. The data shows filling in that lot 10 feet high would not keep water off the road.”
Jackson concluded the discussion by saying the commissioners will work with Moriarty and Kissinger on possible solutions and residents would be kept in contact.
The commissioners agreed to continue looking at the flooding in Ducunee Village, around T13B Lane, with County Surveyor Mike Kissinger and Highway Superintendent Mike Moriarty.
Joe Lenon, who lives at 91 EMS T13B Lane in Leesburg, said the road that goes back to the addition floods “quite a bit” and there are problems with accessing properties back there.
Robert Bowers, of 111 EMS T13B Lane, said he’s lived there for 23 years. Over the years, he said he’s witnessed the county road settle lower and lower. In 2019, he said there was water over the road for 72 days, and so far this year there’s been 11 days.
At 4 a.m. Jan. 11, Bowers said he was having chest pains and had to go to the emergency room, but couldn’t get an ambulance in so he had to walk through yards for a block.
“It’s just becoming a little bit of an issue,” Bowers said. “I know when the lake comes up, we live on the lake and it floods, but we’d maybe like to see if the county could raise the road or doing something so we can get in and out because it has become, over the last 10 years, a problem all the time.”
Commissioner Bob Conley asked him if the water got into his home at all, but he said no though the water does get over a foot above the county road.
Laura Lenon, Joe’s wife, said her parents bought back in the addition in 1985 and the property has been in the family since. The flooding has continued to get worse and never got better. The road was raised in 1987, but it caused more water to come down on their property. She showed the commissioners a variety of pictures of the flooding.
“It is a major issue that is down there, and we’ve been fighting this for years,” she said.
Laura Lenon said it would help if a seawall was put up on two vacant lots. She said she tried to reach the man who owned the lots, but was unsuccessful.
Conley said there was an issue there, but the lake level was as high or higher than her real estate. “That’s a situation, what do you suggest we do about it? You’re under water to begin with.” He asked her if the addition had a property owners association that could do something about the empty lots. There is no property owners or homeowners association for the addition.
Kissinger said he was familiar with the low lot they were talking about, but “I don’t know of any government entity that would be able to force them to be able to do anything like that. And by the way, even if that lot was filled in, I believe there is a seawall that has sanked on that lot. I’m pretty familiar with the area. Even if you did fill that in ... there’s two other little swales that probably would introduce water to the road also.”
He said the road is only a foot above lake level currently, so during a 100-year storm event, there would be two feet of water over the road. “By the way, that’s the record high for Tippecanoe Lake, is the 100-year flood elevation,” Kissinger said.
He didn’t see any drainage pipe solution to the flooding issue because “again you’re too low. You’re just at lake level. That lot that’s being mentioned is setting at lake level.”
Kissinger said he had no solutions for the dozen or so residents of the addition who were present.
There was some discussion about what the county could do and what was the responsibility of the Indiana Department of Natural Resources. Laura Lenon said if everyone put their heads together, they should be able to come up with some solution.
Moriarty said, “Anything that we do will have repercussions. So if we raise the road, it is going to affect water in people’s homes. And that’s something that’s a negative effect. We don’t want it to be there. At the same time, we do want to handle our concerns. And I do agree that getting back there is one of the major issues. Your water issue is also our water issue. And to come up with a solution is going to be very difficult just because we are on an island out there, road included.”
He said he would need to get some help to figure out a solution because he couldn’t come up with one.
Commissioner Brad Jackson said the county is responsible for the road, but if they raise the road that will create more problems. He said the DNR has control over the lakes, and Laura Lenon said she’s contacted the DNR and they’re aware of the problem and would be willing to work with the residents. She said she and the other residents “want a solution.”
Later in the approximate 40-minute discussion, Joe Lenon said he’s been out there 35 years and it’s never been this bad. He advocated for a seawall along the vacant two lots, even if the county had to take the property by eminent domain and put one in.
County attorney Chad Miner said the county’s ability to tell people what to do with their property is “pretty limited” so he didn’t think there was any mechanism for the county to go in and tell people to build a seawall. Joe Lenon said the county is responsible for the road and through traffic on that road.
Kissinger said, “The data doesn’t show that making changes to that lot is going to solve the problem. The data shows the water would enter another area. The data shows filling in that lot 10 feet high would not keep water off the road.”
Jackson concluded the discussion by saying the commissioners will work with Moriarty and Kissinger on possible solutions and residents would be kept in contact.
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