Wednesday, May 31, 2006

Residents blast emergency dike

Bellevue Mayor questioned about his decision


By JASON KAUFFMAN
Express Staff Writer

Bellevue Mayor Jon Anderson's recent decision to have workers erect a temporary earthen dike to control rising floodwaters along a portion of the Big Wood River has touched off a furor of disapproval and protests.

Dismay over Anderson's decision was evident Thursday as city residents showed up to a packed Bellevue City Council meeting to comment on what many characterized as an unnecessary reaction by the city. Their comments came during a discussion of Bellevue's official flood control policy.

The emergency dike authorized by Anderson was done to divert rising floodwaters in Riverside Estates away from Riverside Drive and west back to the river.

Just north of the final home located on Riverside Drive, workers on May 18 bulldozed earthen fill brought in by a series of trucks to create a long dike. While the dike eliminated most of the water from running south along Riverside Drive, at least one homeowner experienced higher flows due to the water being redirected over their property.

Like he has since first authorizing the diking, Anderson reiterated Thursday that his primary concern was protecting city infrastructure and not private property. "I said I think we need to do something," Anderson said.

"My first duty is to protect city infrastructure," he said. "That was my decision."

Anderson's explanation didn't sway Bellevue residents like Dale Shappee, however.

Addressing Anderson, Shappee asked whether he had any real evidence that Bellevue city infrastructure was being placed at risk by the rising floodwaters. "It was not an emergency," Shappee said. "And that's my concern."

Dorothy Schinella, a resident of Glen Aspen Drive just south of Riverside Drive, said Bellevue's approval for Riverside Estates specified that the city isn't responsible for protecting the area from flooding. Further, planners anticipated that water would flow through the Riverside Drive area in the event of flooding, she said.

"It appears the river was performing just as it was supposed to," Schinella said.

Bellevue's response could open the door up to other similar requests for costly emergency flood control actions, she said. "Has the city set a precedent for what it just did?" Schinella asked.

Bellevue residents weren't the only ones in attendance Thursday to express concerns about the diking work.

"My biggest concern is we put our city crew at risk," Bellevue City Council member Steve Fairbrother said.

Homeowners in the Riverside Estates area knew they were buying into a flood prone area when they purchased their lots, Fairbrother said. "They built in the river and I think they'll have to live with it."

The city failed to heed its own advice when the decision to go ahead with the dike was made, he said. Such actions can have negative consequences for downstream landowners, Fairbrother said.

In the past, city officials have protested similar river alterations upstream from Bellevue, he said. "And then we just go and do it ourselves," Fairbrother said.

Thursday's discussion ended with an acknowledgement by city officials of the need for a more definitive flood response plan for future flooding events.

"Then there's no second guessing," Bellevue City Council member Chris Koch said. "It's going to happen again."

In other Bellevue City Council news:

· Council members went over a draft planned unit development (PUD) ordinance Thursday that city staff and Planning and Zoning Commissioners have been developing. The PUD ordinance is being developed in large part to help guide the city's consideration of three separate annexation requests by landowners adjacent to Bellevue. Council members ended the discussion of the draft PUD ordinance without making a final decision.




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