Comments on the Fort Ward Park Draft Drainage Master Plan
To: Fort Ward Park and Museum Advisory Group Members
Subject: Comments on the Fort Ward Park Draft Drainage Master Plan
Date: May 7, 2014
Thank you for the opportunity to review and comment on the Fort Ward Park Draft Drainage Plan. Your report is a welcome sight. As you know water runoff from Fort Ward Park has been a long-standing problem for adjacent residents and leaders of the Oakland Baptist Church. For many years residents have contacted city staff raising their concerns with little or no response. The fact that Fort Ward Park is managed by four separate city offices, and does not have an approved management plan, has led to many single-purpose initiatives which have been in conflict with the overall purpose of the park.
Almost five years to the day I presented concerns on behalf of Marlboro Estates, the Seminary Hill Association, Inc. and the Oakland Baptist Church to the City’s Department of Transportation and Environmental Services (T&ES) at one of their “Stormwater Outreach Meeting” on May 13, 2009. On January 28, 2010 a group of community leaders met with the then-Vice Mayor Kerry Donley about concerns we had related to storm water runoff from Fort Ward Park.
Based on our discussion with Vice Mayor Donley, who worked with Rich Baier, Director of T&ES as well as former Councilwoman Alicia Hughes, we helped the city staff and Council craft a proposal, with funding support, for short-term stormwater solutions and the long-term study.
We also worked with Council and the Office of Historic Alexandria staff to craft a proposal, with funding support, to do archaeological and cultural research to help make decisions in the short and long-term stormwater runoff master plan and proposed management plan. With the strong support of the Mayor, City Manager and the City Council these efforts were given high priority and funded at the requested levels.
Although it is good to finally see this report, after reviewing it and discussing it with community leaders, I believe that your analysis is incomplete and the recommendations are premature and inconsistent with other facts in the public record. The document indicates, “The challenge is to manage the stormwater runoff and to minimize flooding and erosion while preserving the historic and archaeological resources of the Park”. Unfortunately what has been proposed will not meet the challenge.
The report does not integrate information from written and verbal community input, the historical, cultural and archaeological research that has been done, or is now being completed. For example, the research that City Council funded to identify graves and family burial areas within the park has not yet been completed. The Office of Historic Alexandria recently made a belated written commitment to interview current and past city employees and descendant Fort Ward community family members to help identify where additional graves are located. It is unclear at this time when that information will be available for review by the public and use in your decision-making. Decisions about stormwater and the overall management plan must be based on this information.
The report indicates that this effort has been designed to “Work with Local Government and Citizens to Create Viable Solutions”. Although the consultants made presentations to the city and the Fort Ward Park and Museum Advisory Group, the efforts to engage the public to help create solutions have fallen short. For example, there was no early communication or outreach to help create viable solutions with the homeowners from Marlboro Estates or the Oakland Baptist Church leaders despite several assurances from the Mayor, City Manager and city staff that there would be.
The report that has been prepared is also technically flawed. The development projects for “Site 6- The Berm” and “Site 7--Stream Stabilization” are not based on good site analysis. For example, within the Maintenance Yard where The Berm is proposed, the document failed to recognize that the site and the soils in this area were substantially modified as a result of illegal activities by the City of Alexandria. As you may, or may not, know this area was filled and drainage areas were modified without any permit or public notice. The fill, which included soil, gravel and organic debris, modified the areas drainage increasing and redirecting sheet flow into the cemetery and adjacent residential properties causing flooding, erosion and subsidence. In addition, the fill degraded and covered identified graves and family burial areas within this space.
The report also does not recognize statements made by Mr. Spengler, Director of the City of Alexandria Recreation Department, Mr. Baier and Mr. Mallamo, as well as many others, indicating that the Maintenance Yard needs to be restored to find graves as well as repair damage to drainage and vegetation.
The proposal to cover this area with more fill will not correct the damage that has been done to site drainage and will permanently cover-up graves. It ignores the need to complete archaeological and oral history research before any decisions are made.
Within the ravine, where “Site 7--Stream Stabilization” is proposed, the report failed to recognize that this ravine has been identified as an area where there are graves. The ravine was filled with park debris as part of a Fort Ward Park Master Plan and implementation project in 1979. At that time, Recreation Department staff, some of who still work for the city, were directed to remove gravestones and markers from parklands. City leaders have been unwilling to discuss where those markers and stones were taken and community leaders believe that they may have been discarded in the ravine. These points were raised with Transportation & Environmental Services and Office of Historic Alexandria leaders when Daniel Imig from T & ES brought this same stream stabilization proposal to the Advisory Group on November 11, 2010.
The proposal to further fill this area with soil and rock at this time ignores the need to complete archaeological and oral history research before any decisions are made.
The report notes, “In 2012, the City implemented interim drainage improvements on the east side of the Park to divert runoff from Oakland Baptist Church Cemetery and neighboring Marlboro Estates subdivision. The measures included installation of small catch basins, drainage pipes, and infiltration trench drains (Figure 2). The improvements provide a temporary solution to prevent runoff from flowing into the cemetery”. This conclusion reflects poorly on your analysis in that the short-term solutions have helped reduce some stormwater runoff but did not “prevent runoff from flowing into the cemetery”.
Perhaps this conclusion was reached after the one site reconnaissance visit that was made to the park and the cemetery. A visit to the park and cemetery during or shortly after a rainfall illustrates time and time again that stormwater runoff continues to enter the cemetery from parklands. This fact was repeatedly made to the advisory group members, city staff and elected officials. The report’s analysis does not make use of photos taken during wet-weather periods by community members and provided to the city and the advisory group.
The report indicates, “Approximately 50 percent of the Park drains northeast to the Stormwater Management (SWM) Pond before entering the City’s storm drainage system at Outfall C. The SWM Pond also captures the off-site runoff from the area west of Braddock Road and the Marlboro Estate subdivision (Dedicated pond)”. The statement is confusing and seems as if the consultants believe that there are two stormwater management ponds within the park. The only designated stormwater management pond in Fort Ward Park is the one adjacent to Van Dorn Street.
In summary, this report is an important element of the proposed management plan and needs to be completed. However, the Draft Fort Ward Park Drainage Master Plan is missing crucial information on the location of graves, family burial areas and cultural artifacts. It also fails to recognize the City of Alexandria has a moral and a legal responsibility to restore the Maintenance Yard so that damage to park drainage can be repaired and graves can be located. Without this basic restoration and information the Site 6 and 7 alternatives presented in the draft plan are premature.
It is essential that proposals in the drainage master plan find a way to solve stormwater runoff problems without degrading and covering-up graves, family burial areas and community history. The city’s decision to conduct three separate studies simultaneously without integrating their sequencing, timing, information, public outreach, analysis, and recommendations has muddled the objectives of each effort and continues to delay reaching agreement on solutions to long-standing problems. The recommendations provided in this draft will not benefit the City or the community it serves. I urge you to place this long-term work on hold until the Maintenance Yard restoration and research on archaeology, history and culture has been completed.
Thank you for your commitment to Fort Ward Park and the citizens it serves.
Sincerely,
Glenn
J. Glenn Eugster, Co-Chair, Fort Ward History Work Group;
Steering Committee, Fort Ward African American Descendants Society, Inc.
cc. Rich Baier, James Spengler, J. Lance Mallamo, Mayor and City Council Members
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