Developer says he will solve problems at Olde Hilltop
Developer Mike Durbin explains the storm water management issues he has faced during construction of the Olde Hilltop subdivision in Wilkshire Hills.
Mike Durbin, the developer of the Olde Hilltop subdivision in Wilkshire Hills, has been criticized by some of the homeowners in the new development, most recently for problems with a water retention basin that is not draining. Two homeowners attended the Aug. 25 meeting of the Lawrence Township Board of Trustees to go on record as being unsatisfied with the way the matter was being handled.
In a Sept. 2 interview, Durbin set out to explain what happened and how he plans to remedy the situation.
“I want to do what’s right,” Durbin said at the site just prior to meeting with the affected homeowners.
In fact, Durbin said he has always wanted to do what’s right, but there have been a number of complicating factors from the beginning of the development.
“When I bought the land, the township trustees said they were happy to support the development if I could keep all the water from running off the hill,” he said, “not just my water, but all of it.”
Durbin asked a respected engineer for help, who designed the pond and dam, which was then approved by four bodies: the township trustees, the regional planning commission, the Ohio EPA and Joe Bachman, the county engineer. Bachman had one suggestion, though, which was to add a keyway to prevent the pond from leaking under the dam.
“In addition to that, there are four sump wells measuring 6 feet deep and filled with stone. If the water gets high enough to go over the dam, it goes into these dry wells with the idea that it would dissipate into the ground,” Durbin said.
The first problem
Durbin said the first problem he encountered was the soil composition. “As we were building it, the excavator said, ‘This isn’t going to drain very fast because there’s clay down here.’ This whole hillside is mostly clay, so the water doesn’t dissipate.”
Durbin said he considered punching small holes in the dam to allow the water to trickle through. However, he said if the water were to divert to neighboring properties, he could find himself in legal trouble, so that option is out.
“So here’s the dilemma: We’ve got a pond that won’t drain. I’m not allowed to dump it onto the neighbor’s, but I have to get rid of it,” Durbin said.
Durbin said someone mentioned the lack of silt fences at the township meeting, which he said is the responsibility of the homeowners, one of whom has recently installed a fence. “Having said that, as a developer I should have told them they had to do this, but it didn’t get done.”
The result in the spring, before grass grew in the lawns, was a muddy mess. In addition, Durbin said construction debris blew into the pond and was never cleaned up. “So if any of those rock sump wells were going to work, they have no chance of working now because it’s all covered with mud, silt and clay.”
On the bright side, now that the lawns are coming in, there should be no more mud issues. In addition, one of the residents has seeded the ditch in front of his property, which Durbin said will help. Durbin owns the end lot, which has yet to be seeded.
Durbin said he has a silt fence on the land he owns that he intends to reinforce. “Then I think we need to pump out the water and clean out the mud that’s on the bottom. What I don’t know is what to do next. If we clean it out and restone on the four dry wells, it’s just a matter of time before it silts over again because it’s still built on top of clay.”
Durbin said he will consult with engineers to try to solve the problem. “There’s always going to be water, even though some of it will dissipate if we can get a system that will allow it to do that. I’m sure there’s an engineering feat of some sort that maybe can take care of it, but I don’t know what that is yet.”
As for cleaning out the pond, Durbin said he was told by the excavator it would be best to wait until the ground freezes a bit. “He said, ‘If I do it in this mud, it will just be a muddy mess, but if I do it after it’s frozen, the mud comes up in chunks like rock, and it’s easy for me to clean up.’ So I’m not delaying it intentionally — there’s a rationale behind it.”
In the end Durbin said he is limited in what he can do. “I can only do what the regulations will allow.”