Sewer project to begin next week
By Kevin Kelley
Fairview Park
Published Sept. 24, 2008

The city’s second major sewer project in as many years begins next week with the goal of further reducing the problem of flooded basements.

City officials explained details of the $933,000 project to a handful of residents who attended a public meeting at City Hall Thursday evening.

Beth Starks, a West 215th Street resident, wanted to know if she could put belongings back in her basement without fear of damage by sewer water flooding her basement.

Starks, who has lived on the street for 10 years, first experienced a problem in 2000.

As she descended the stairs, she noticed that the carpeting was a different color.

“I walked down and I stepped into squoosh,” she said.

Sewer water had come up through the laundry tub and a shower drain in her basement. She remodeled the basement, but was flooded again during the torrential rainstorms in August 2006 and August 2007. She then put her belongings kept in the basement up on wooden boxes so they wouldn’t be ruined if flooded again.

“We’re thrilled that they’re going to do something,” Starks said about the city’s effort to prevent further flooding.

City officials said they could not guarantee the upcoming project will prevent all basement flooding. However, city engineer Michael Mackay said the work on Starks’ street should address the problem.

“We’re hopeful it’ll make a difference for you,” Mackay told Starks.

Mackay said the city performed video inspections of sewers to identify those sections most in need of repair or replacement. Funding limitations prevented more extensive replacement of sewers at this time, Mackay and Service Director Jim Kennedy said.

The goal is to prevent storm water pipes from leaking into sanitary pipes, causing those pipes to back up into peoples’ basements.

“The general approach we’ve always taken is to seal up our sanitary sewers,” Mackay said. “And that’s what we’re doing on 215 — sealing those sanitary sewers up so they’re not subject to the storm water infiltration.”

Video inspection revealed that the sanitary sewer on Starks’ street was in bad shape, Mackay said.

“We found in these particular areas that the sanitary sewer was in terrible condition — wide open, broken,” Mackay said. “And that is a major cause of flooding, when you have a sanitary sewer that is cracked open, busted, and is then susceptible to storm sewer infiltration.”

Many of the sewers being replaced are 50 to 80 years old, Mackay said.

“These systems are old and they’re porous,” Kennedy said of the aging sewers, which were made of clay.

In contrast, the new ones are made of plastic and are not subject to the same types of problems, Kennedy said.

The streets blackened in the map will have repair work done to sanitary and/or storm sewers. (Map courtesy of Mackay Engineering & Surveying Company.)

The project, which was awarded to Fabrizi Trucking and Paving Company, includes the following work:

• Repair of storm and sanitary sewers on sections of West 215th Street and Addington Boulevard (west of West 210th Street). This work will take place in October and November.

• Replacement of a sanitary sewer on Addington Boulevard east of West 210th Street near Westgate during October and November.

• Replacement of storm and sanitary sewers on a section of Eastwood Avenue just east of West 210th Street. This work will be done in October and November, with the pavement replaced in the spring.

During construction on Eastwood Avenue, traffic will be restricted to residents. Driveway access may be temporarily affected, with residents having to park on nearby side streets at times, city officials said.

A minimum of one lane of traffic will be maintained during construction on the other affected streets. Work will be done Monday through Thursday from 7:30 a.m. to 5:30 p.m., with Friday being a rain day.

Mayor Eileen Patton encouraged residents to call City Hall if they have any questions or problems about the construction.

“We have one goal in mind,” the mayor said. “And that is to fix the antiquated sewer system that we have in our city.”

Councilman Bill Minek, in whose Ward 2 the project will take place, said he believes the work will help but might not solve the entire flooding problem.

“Twenty-plus years I’ve waited for some relief for Ward 2,” Minek told West Life.

Kennedy said the upcoming project, which is being funded through a 30-year zero-interest loan from the Ohio Public Works Commission, is just one part of the city’s efforts to stop basement flooding.

“This is one in a number of projects that we’ve either implemented or will implement to address on a citywide basis primarily the whole question of basement flooding that a lot of people have experienced,” Kennedy said.

The Ward 2 sewer project follows a similar $800,000 project completed earlier this year along South Sagamore Road.

The city plans to seek additional state funding to replace storm and sanitary sewers along and near Woodstock Road.

In recent years, the city followed the lead of its northern neighbor, Rocky River, in placing sandbags around storm sewer grates to slow down the flow and prevent a backup of water in the storm sewer system.

While this solution at times causes a temporary backup of water in the city’s streets, that was better than water going into residents’ basements, Mackay said.

The service department is currently in the process of replacing the sandbags with permanent restrictors that also slow the flow of water in the storm sewers. One version of the restrictors, developed by service workers Terry Rohr and Ray Painter, is nothing more than a bucket with half of the bottom cut out. The other version is a metal plate to block half of the metal grates that collect storm water.

Service Foreman Jim Matt said nearly 70 percent of the city’s storm sewer collectors have been fitted with the restrictors. The goal is to finish the remainder before winter, Maat said.

Unlike the sandbags, the permanent restrictors require less maintenance and are not unsightly, Maat said.

“No one wants to drive through a city full of sandbags,” Maat said.