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Discussion of the Leffell pipe project was the main focus of the Kosciusko County Drainage Board meeting Thursday.
The proposal is to remove old undersized pipe and tile on a private crossing and replace it with 260 feet of new culver pipe and enlarge the pipe. The drain is on the east side of the lake in Silver Lake along Courtland Drive in Courtland Park Addition. The hearing for property owners who will be affected by the pipe project will be at 9:30 a.m. Oct. 7 in the county courthouse.
The county drainage board will pay $3,000 of the cost to install new pipes and landowners will pay the rest. The drainage board will also cover all of the cost of the open ditch work, estimated by county surveyor Dick Kemper to be approximately $2,460.
The rest of the total cost will be divided by the six property owners along the pipe. They will have two years to pay off the debt.
Kemper said the cost of the pipe alone will be slightly more than $10,000 and the total estimated cost (including the $3,000 the drainage board will pay) will be approximately $16,725.
"The only discussion we have with the landowners is we either do it or we take the pipes out," Kemper said.
In other business, the board also discussed the Wiltrout tile vacation. The hearing for the vacation will be at 10:30 a.m. Oct. 7 in the courthouse.
The tile is in Arlington Estates, where the proposed subdivision will be, on CR 200S and County Farm Road. Heritage Group of Elkhart is petitioning for the tile vacation to reorganize the storm water drains. Ninety-nine single family residences will be built on the land. The subdivision is being annexed by the city of Warsaw effective in January.
Concluding business, the drainage board discussed implementing a policy that would not permit landowners to change watersheds unless there is a dire need to do so.
