January 4, 2010
Dear Deputy Mayor Donley,
Thank you for your note of December 10, 2009 regarding the City of Alexandria’s December 7, 2009 response to a letter from Geoffrey P. Lyon of Fort Ward Place regarding the Abatement of Public Nuisance at Fort Ward. In your note to me you asked does the proposed work satisfy your concerns. You indicated a willingness to discuss this matter with me further.
Recreation Department Director James Spengler’s note to the Mayor and Members of City Council does not address the water problem in Fort Ward Park. A group of homeowners and members of the Oakland Baptist Church, who are negatively impacted by the problems that have been created by the city’s development of the park and management of this property, would like to discuss this matter with you.
Background
As you may know the residents of Marlboro Estates and members of the Oakland Baptist Church have been in regular contact with Alexandria’s elected and government officials about water problems resulting from the management and use of Fort Ward Park. For nearly five years homeowners and church members have raised concerns individually and collectively about park-related water drainage, storm water, cemetery grave subsidence, erosion and debris from runoff, and standing stagnant water. With the exception of the placement of some hay bales along the high-side of the cemetery this year, and the recent removal of branches and leaves from the area around the storm drain in the ravine down-slope of the cemetery, the city has not taken any action to respond to people’s concerns.
Although the staff and managers of the city have taken calls, listened to comments, read requests, and visited the park, the typical response we have received has been dismissive, indifferent, resistant, and sometimes accusatory. Although the individuals we have talked and met with have been professional and polite they have been unresponsive to citizen concerns. This interaction has created a situation where problems go unsolved and the relationship between government and the community it serves is frayed.
Fort Ward Water Problems
The Fort Ward water problems that the city needs to address, which are illustrated in the attached photos, are:
1. Increased storm water from the maintenance/ nursery yard; storm sewers along Braddock Road; and runoff from the Fort Ward Museum.
2. The past and recent filling of drainage swales, by the city, along the city boundary with the homes along Ellicott Street and within the intermittent stream down-slope of the Oakland Baptist Church Cemetery.
3. The absence of any storm water management or erosion and sedimentation practices within Fort Ward Park.
4. The absence of regular park maintenance within the corridor of the intermittent stream down-slope from the cemetery.
Also attached is a summary that I provided to Rich Baier’s staff and office following one of the city’s Storm Water Outreach Meetings last year.
Possible Solutions
We would like the opportunity to discuss this problem with you. In addition, we believe that it may be most effective for the city, this community and the Oakland Baptist Church to participate in a storm water management design charrette to develop a short-term and long-term action plan for addressing the concerns that have been identified. This approach could meld community input with the technical expertise of the city in a time and cost-effective manner to develop low-impact development best management practices.
Comments from Homeowners on the City’s Response
The following are recent notes I received from homeowners adjacent to the park that have been impacted by these water problems.
“Mr. Spengler expressed concern about the effect on adjacent homeowner's property that would be the result of changing the drainage system in Fort Ward Park. Such effects should be estimated when planning a solution to the drainage issues. I was pleased to hear that those effects will be considered.
January 3, 2006 and June 26, 2006 I wrote to the Director of Parks about the sewer behind my house backing up and causing a torrent of water to sweep into my yard. The rapid water knocked down the entire back corner of my fence. After that the city cleared the sewer out to Van Dorn St. and the problem was much better. If the openings to the sewer are clogged by logs, branches and leaves all the water sweeps into my yard during a heavy rain. Any drainage solution planned should take this problem into consideration and try to fix it.
I have lived here for thirty years and don't recall having this problem until about 2004 or 2005. This makes me think that this drainage problem can be corrected by civil engineers or some type of expert in this field.” --Margaret McCormack 12/9/09
“A couple of thoughts: Since moving into our house in 1996, every time there is a significant thunder storm, we have a small stream form in our back yard that is coming from the maintenance yard. Water pools in the corner of yard next to the Kling’s. The indentation from where the water is coming from the maintenance yard is growing each year. From my perspective, the erosion problem is more wide spread then just the cemetery“. Thanks for gathering our comments.
After reading what Elizabeth Sullivan and Dennis Carroll wrote it is very obvious that we are at the beginning of a stream that begins in the maintenance yard and then feeds into the Kling’s and then into the Carroll’s yard“. – Thad Dilley 12/30/09
“I agree that something must be done about the "pond" in Ft. Ward, but frankly right now I'm more concerned about the "pond" in my backyard. Before the last few years, my yard was never "wet". Now, after Roger's efforts in the maintenance yard it contains standing water almost all the time, especially after rain or snow. I've had landscaper designers out and I will have to spend a good deal of money to landscape and install a rock bed to try and remedy this situation. I think removal of the excess debris piles near my fence will probably help but it seems they've somehow really changed the topography of that area. It's as if they've abandoned the maintenance yard never to return or to clean up their mess. The trash in and around the greenhouse, which you've nicely documented in photos, is appalling. The piles of debris should be eliminated because of rodents and drainage issues. This is my personal issue though. What would be more helpful input to get the public area properly taken care of? “--Elizabeth Sullivan 12/10/09
“You're right in suggesting that the water problems of residents be combined. Margaret's problems at the bottom are matched by those of owners near the cemetery and by other residents such as the Klings and my home farther "upstream." The Klings have a worse standing-water problem in their back yard now than at any time in recent years. I think it's a key source of the mosquito explosion, which has made our backyard unusable at times. Both the Klings' home and my home are still at risk from flooding. The Klings had to spend thousands of dollars repairing their basement after it was inundated and then covered with a bad kind of mold. My own basement has narrowly escaped flooding. Of the total money that we spent on re-doing our backyard, I'd say that about $5,000 went to river jack and other measures to deal with drainage problems. We still have standing water in our backyard in spite of that expenditure. The Klings have not tackled the water problem in their backyard, though they've tried to upgrade it in other ways. The Fultons, of course, spent considerable money dealing with the water problem. SO, IN GENERAL, you might point out that residents all along the Ft. Ward/Marlboro Estates boundary line from way upstream all the way to Margaret at the bottom are dealing with a single, unified mess, whose cause still has not been fully investigated and understood by the City. Mr. Spengler, the Parks Director, does acknowledge that there's a short-term issue with the mess at the bottom but he also acknowledges a long-term issue with water drainage throughout the park and especially around Marlboro Estates. While his staff is taking some remedial measures at the bottom, they still need to figure out what can be done, if anything, to steer water into the park and away from the boundary line between the Park and Marlboro estates, which is threatening property values.” --Dennis Carroll 12/10/09
“Thank you for providing me with the corrective action. Sounds reasonable so long as the Alexandria Park Employees periodically clean out the entrapped debris as part of their routine preventive maintenance schedule at Fort Ward Park.
P.S. You will note that my compromise (in prior email response to Director of Parks) required that they cut a small sluiceway in the current log by removing 3' - 4' of the log with a buzz saw. You may want to pursue this matter further - I believe my compromise is better than merely mucking out a little debris with no prospective preventive maintenance plan in place or reduced to writing. Feel free to forward this email to whomever you deem appropriate“. -- R/Geoff Lyon 12/9/09
"Superb letter. I was unaware of all the other water drainage issues impacting Fort Ward Park and our Neighborhood. You did a great job of encompassing all of them within your synopsis.
Concur, based upon your synopsis, that a Master Plan needs to be developed and then implemented to abate these water issues (which are of recent, suspicious origin and, at this point, unknown etiology)".--R/Geoff Lyon 12/30/09
I hope this gives you more perspective about your view of these problems. We all appreciate your interest and look forward to an opportunity to discuss this with you.
Sincerely,
Glenn
J. Glenn Eugster
4022 Ellicott Street
Alexandria, VA 22304
703-845-8947
Attached digital photos (to be included)
