New flood study raises questions about effectiveness and liability

The 100-year storm may no longer be relevant to Darien's flood mitigation efforts.

Public Works Director Robert Steeger appeared before the Board of Selectmen Monday night to discuss a $38,000 study, which will examine nine alternatives to the proposed Baker Park flood mitigation plan.

The money will come from funds leftover from a previous study and does not represent an additional cost to taxpayers, Campbell said.

The multi-million dollar Baker Park plan was engineered to control high waters during a 100-year storm and proposes installing a new 60-inch culvert beneath Interstate 95 to carry excess storm water to a proposed 3.5-acre detention basin in the western and southern portion of Baker Park. It's a plan that Republican First Selectman David Campbell said takes one neighborhood's problem and shifts it to another.

Campbell requested a proposal from Leonard Jackson, an engineer who had been involved in the Baker Park proposal, to explore a list of alternatives.

"Mr. Jackson would be looking at a total of nine alternatives," Steeger told the board. These include: removing the existing sewer main from the railroad culvert; maximizing detention under Heights Road; maximizing detention under the Stop & Shop parking lot; maximizing detention under the railroad station parking lot; and permutations of the first four, according to Steeger.

Jackson will perform hydrologic and hydraulic analyses for two-, five- 10-, 25- and 50-year floods during his research, and "comparing the cost-effectiveness to the actual level of flood protection being offered," Steeger said.

He told the board it's not likely that an analysis for a 100-year storm would be relevant, or that the alternatives will meet the needs of a 100-year flood.

This drew some concern from Democratic Selectman Callie Sullivan, who asked Steeger whether ignoring the 100-year flood standard could make the town vulnerable to law suits in the event of such a storm.

Steeger said he was not certain whether building to lesser standard could have legal ramifications; it is a question better posed to a lawyer, he told Sullivan.

Democratic Selectman David Bayne, a lawyer, asked Steeger whether he knew of any other towns proposing projects for two-, five- 10-, 25- and 50-year floods.

"Typically a 100-year flood is used for flood control efforts," Steeger said.

"If in a 50-year flood, the water level in the Heights is now 3 feet in the lowest building, and you put detention in the Stop & Shop parking lot, and because of that detention, you can lower it to 1 foot, and the detention will cost you a half-a-million dollars, the question then is, is it worth doing?" he said. "On the other hand ... if we can get it just outside the door in a 100-year flood, that's a whole new step of the decision making."

Jackson's study will search for these keys in the decision making process.

"I am interested, obviously in getting to the end of this project with doing as little harm to trees or anything we can possibly do, but I do have one general goal, and that is to get the large quantities of water off Heights Road before someone drowns in their car," Sullivan said. "I feel the 100-year flood basis that FEMA uses is not pulled out of the air." The proposal came as a surprise to Sullivan and Bayne. According to Bayne, he knew nothing about it before the meeting. Because he does not like "having to do these things `on the fly,'" he sent the Darien News and e-mail on Monday, detailing his reaction to the proposal.

"Flood mitigation projects, almost by definition, are expensive, particularly in a town like Darien which is 98-plus percent developed, leaving little open land to put these projects. So given that fact and in light of these tough economic times, I do not understand why we would even consider paying what will undoubtedly be a substantial amount of tax payer money to effect only a partial cure of the Heights Road problem," the e-mail said. "To pursue such a path too far hardly seems to comport with this BOS's number-one priority of fiscal prudence. If we are going to allocate scarce town resources to fixing the Heights Road flooding problem, then my feeling is that we should do the job right the first time and not spend significant amounts of taxpayer money only to find that we still have a problem."

Campbell said he believes the study has the potential to save taxpayers money.

"From the very beginning, I've always said this whole thing is about cost benefit. What's the benefit of doing what project for what amount of money," the First Selectman said. "Is there a benefit to spending $5.5 million to fix the flooding, or is there a way to do a smaller fix for $500,000 -- and is that the right thing to do?"

The study will not ignore the possibility of a 100-year flood, he said. Instead it will look at the possible ramifications of several levels of storms, and help the town identify the most efficient way to spend money on a flood fix.

As of publication time on Wednesday, Campbell had not yet signed the proposal, though he said he was planning to do so.

Jackson will have a preliminary report ready by the board's next regular meeting on Tuesday, Feb. 16, Steeger said.