Macdc Conference Summer 2012
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MICHIGAN ASSOCIATION OF COUNTY DRAIN COMMISSIONERS www.macdc.net Executive Board Members Volume 21, No. 3 Third Quarter 2012 Brian Jonckheere Robert J. Mantey President Northeast District Chair Livingston County Tuscola County 517.546.0040 989.672.3820 [email protected]. draincommissioner@ TABLE OF mi.us tuscolacounty.org Douglas D. Enos Brian Denman First Vice-President Northwest District Chair CONTENTS Midland County Gratiot County 989.832.6772 989.875.5207 DNR Grant Program Announced To [email protected] [email protected] Kevin McElyea Janis A. Bobrin Address Dam Removals And Critical Second Vice-President Southeast District Chair Maintenance ....................................... 4 Grand Traverse County Washtenaw County 231.995.6042 734.222.6860 kmcelyea@ [email protected] Drain Commissioner’s Project Solves co.grandtraverse.mi.us Joe Parman Basement Flooding In Lenawee County: Becky Rininger Southwest District Chair Secretary Van Buren County Gier Sand Creek Drain ......................... 6 Allegan County 269.657.8241 269.673.0440 [email protected] MACDC Conference Summer 2012 ..... 18 [email protected] Mike Farrell Kerreen Conley Upper Peninsula District Chair MACDC Darwin McLeod Distinguished Treasurer Marquette County Wayne County 906.458.9118 Service Award .................................. 26 313.224.7679 [email protected] [email protected] William Byl Program To Remove Old Clinton River Joseph Rivet Legislative Committee Chair Immediate Past President Kent County Bridge Abutments Will Benefit Wildlife, Bay County 616.336.3688 Environment And Residents .................. 28 989.895.4290 [email protected] [email protected] Michael R. Gregg Associate Member News .................... 30 Kevin McElyea Michigan Department of Northern District Chair Agriculture and Resource Grand Traverse County Development Legislative Update: 231.995.6042 517.373.9802 kmcelyea@ [email protected] Michigan’s Lame Duck ........................ 32 co.grandtraverse.mi.us MACDC Events Calendar .................... 35 PIPELINE is published four times a year. It is funded by the Mich igan Association of County Drain Commissioners, and with The Hubbard Law Firm Offers Seidlein advertising revenues. The Michigan Asso cia tion of County Drain Commis sioners is a non profit, state wide association. Scholarship To Cover Cost Of Drain PIPELINE Editors Contact for advertising Conference Attendance ...................... 36 Theresa Lark information Jeff Hammer Theresa Lark or Jeff Hammer PIPELINE MACDC List of Advertisers ............................... 38 Editing Committee 120 N. Washington Sq., Theresa Lark, Chair Suite 110A No part of this publication may be reproduced without Linda Brown Lansing, MI 48933 permission of the publisher and the MACDC. All John Bush Phone: (517) 4849761 articles submitted will be considered for publication Jeff Friedle Fax: (517) 3711170 and accepted at the approval of the editor and the Mike Gregg Email: Stacy Hissong PIPELINE Committee. The editor reserves the right to edit [email protected] Evan Pratt submissions for accuracy, clarity and length. Third Quarter 2012 3 New Inspection Initiative from the DEQ DNR Grant Program Announced to Address Dam Removals and Critical Maintenance The Department of Natural Resources has an- “There are 2,600 Michigan dams listed in the State nounced a new Dam Management Grant Program Dam Inventory with even more not included in this to address Michigan’s failing dam infrastructure. database. Most of these dams were built decades The grant opportunity will provide $2.35 million ago for a variety of uses including power genera- in Fiscal Year 2013 to fund dam removal and critical tion, water supply, log transportation, flood storage maintenance, implementing a key tool highlighted and recreation,” said Chris Freiburger, coordinator in Governor Rick Snyder’s 2011 address on infra- of the Dam Management Grant Program. structure needs. Nearly 75 percent of Michigan’s dams are private- “This program begins to address a growing issue ly-owned, with many of these facilities - as well as for our state as more than 90 percent of Michigan’s those in public ownership - falling apart as shown dams will reach or exceed their design life by 2020. by the fact the American Society of Civil Engineers Many dams are abandoned, no longer serve any recently gave the state a “D” in its 2009 Dam Infra- useful purpose, degrade our aquatic resource, and structure Rating. pose safety hazards to downstream residents,” said DNR Director Keith Creagh. Information and applications for the Dam Manage- ment Grant Program can be obtained from any Fish- The Dam Management Grant Program will provide eries Division office or downloaded at http://www. funding and technical assistance to local and state michigan.gov/dnr/0,4570,7-153-58225_62891--- units of government, non-profit groups and indi- ,00.html viduals to manage dam removals or repair/major maintenance projects that will enhance aquatic re- Grant applications must be postmarked by Satur- sources and fishing opportunities in Michigan. It day, Dec. 1, 2012, to be considered for the Fiscal will focus on projects that reduce long-term infra- Year 2013 funding cycle. structure costs and address those that are an immi- nent public safety issue and are deemed of unsatis- factory condition by Department of Environmental Quality (DEQ) dam safety or are under DEQ order. The program will be administered by the DNR. 4 Vol 21, No. 3 Third Quarter 2012 5 Drain Commissioner’s Project Solves Basement Flooding in Lenawee County Gier Sand Creek Drain by Stephen R. May, Lenawee County Drain Commissioner and Brian Cenci, P.E., Fitzgerald Henne and Associates, Inc. SPECIAL NOTE REGARDING THE PROJECT: If and specify a Drainage District was provided you have ever known someone with a persistent to property owners on the corner of Gier Road basement flooding problem, then you know of and Sand Creek Highway in Madison Township someone who is never completely comfortable. of Lenawee County. On the following Monday, That person is always watching the weather July 14th, the application was returned to the and always in tune to when the next potential Lenawee County Drain Commissioner (LCDC). rain storm might occur. While working on this The 39 signatures returned represented 36 project, we met people who could never leave properties. All but six property owners in the fi- on vacation without being worried, forced to nal Drainage District signed the initial applica- monitor the weather from 3,000 miles away. tion and petition. It was abundantly clear from We heard stories of individuals having to rush home from a movie date because they could the start that a serious problem existed in this hear the rain falling and they knew their base- rural, non-platted neighborhood. ment would be flooded. These truly are a In October 2008, the LCDC’s office contract- unique set of people… and a good portion of ed with Fitzgerald Henne & Associates, INC. the individuals that we encountered during this (FHAI) to perform a Preliminary Engineering project. Study. The purpose was to determine existing On Friday, July 11th 2008, in response to their problems and analyze solution options for the expressed concerns, an application to design proposed Drainage District. 6 Vol 21, No. 3 FHAI surveyed to determine existing topographic the direction of the Engineer, piezometers were conditions, reviewed past drainage complaints, installed in three locations to begin immediately and monitored the site over a two-month period monitoring groundwater levels and collect infor- during heavy rain events. FHAI, along with the mation about sub-surface conditions and to de- LCDC, also sent out correspondence to all the termine a probable reason for the relatively high property owners within the proposed District, water table. The piezometers initially encountered encouraging each homeowner to set up times for water between four and five feet below the surface individual on-site meetings with the Project Engi- in all three locations. Soil boring samples showed neer to discuss their drainage issues. This resource that, below the first six inches of topsoil and or- proved invaluable when determining project ganic matter, almost entirely Fine to Medium or scope, as it allowed the team to assess each prop- Coarse Sand comprised the soil profile for about erty’s issue and incorporate a solution into design 20 feet, before encountering a layer of clay. The recommendations. soil profile was restricting groundwater infiltra- Soon after completing the preliminary survey and tion, trapping it near the top of the soil Column. inspection, it was evident that this was not the typ- In May of 2009, FHAI was authorized to complete ical surface water problem for which most drains the final design and prepare the project for bid lat- in Michigan are designed. The area had not been er that year. Additional easements were obtained platted and most of the houses and properties by the Drain Commissioner’s office to perform were basic land divisions; no existing storm sewer work outside of the road rights-of-way. system nor even an existing road ditch system was in place. The Final design layout called for a series of perfo- rated underground pipes to be installed through- During the surveying and scoping phase, the proj- out the drainage district, targeting the areas of ect team began to find that foundations of most greatest groundwater concern. FHAI looked at all of the properties were inundated year-round due the basements within the Drainage District and to a significant groundwater problem. This was so prevalent that several of the properties had designed the system to drain groundwater at least multiple sump pumps. Incredibly, one property one foot below the elevation of the lowest base- owner was using six separate sump pumps just to keep the basement from flooding. The electric bill alone for some of these properties was over $600 a month just from running multiple sump pumps. At a cost of over $20,000, several of the property owners had installed outside systems with catch basins to try to capture the groundwater before it entered their footing drains.