Running out of dry land

By Rod Rose/The Lebanon Reporter

Lebanon August 21, 2008 12:10 am

— Urbanites who move to rural areas of Boone County may find the tranquility and soothing scenery they seek.
They may also find their property occasionally disappears under water.
There is, after all, a reason the Great Seal of Boone County includes a bullfrog.
Boone County is a 423-square-mile wetland. It is livable and farmable only because since it was established 177 years ago, thousands of farmers, homeowners and county government have spent millions of dollars installing drain tile and clearing debris from streams. Drain tile is perforated pipe buried under farm fields to improve excess water flow from crops.
Despite that work, some rural residential sites are simply unsuitable for housing.
Separate issues at a Boone County Drainage Board meeting earlier this week, emphasized that soggy reality.
Some persons have built on land County Surveyor Ken Hedge said was unsuitable, Drainage Board member Byron Loveless remarked Monday.
“Then they get standing water in the front yard and think they’ve been flooded out,” Loveless said.
The drainage board is responsible for keeping streams clear of debris. It approves plans to control runoff when construction changes water flow. Retention and detention ponds, for example, are required to restrict the volume of water flowing off property that has been improved. No more water may drain from property after building than before the improvement.
“There isn’t a piece of land in Boone County that doesn’t have standing water at some time,” said Jason Hendricks, who was asking the board to approve a new home on Hazelcollege Road.
Hugo Limp, the farmer who is selling the home site, told Hendricks he has never lost a crop because of flooding or ponding. “But a homeowner has a greater expectation out of land than a farmer does ... a homeowner, they want that water off there.”
Platted as the Hazelcollege West minor subdivision, the property is running out of suitable sites — because the dry ones have been used. Landowner Ron Rolston was given Area Plan Commission approval for the three-lot subdivision five years ago, said Kathy Clawson of the Boone County Surveyor’s Office.
The “unintended consequence was to create a major subdivision,” drainage board member Charles Eaton said.
Now, Ralston wants to add three lots to the property on County Road 50 South, just west of CR 700 W, in Jefferson Township.
“The first three had water problems,” Clawson said. “By adding three more (sites), you are compounding the problem and not solving the problem,” she said. The drainage board wants Rolston to resolve all drainage issues before more homes are built.
“This is not a good place to build,” Hedge said Monday.
The land drains into Wolf Creek. Before Hedge recommends a decision to the drainage board, he wants the land harvested. Then, he can track the drain tiles and determine the site’s drainage patterns.
Tougher restrictions may be needed, Loveless said. It could cost future home buyers $20,000 or more to install adequate drainage, he said. “Someplace, somebody is going to have to start putting the brakes on this,” he said.
There are some areas where flooding is inevitable, no matter how much the county or a homeowner spends.
Bridges at County Roads 300 South and 600 West are examples, said David Hass of Christopher Burke Engineering.
Homeowners have complained even minor rains flood their property.
The bridges are inadequate, Hass said. There is a 10 percent annual chance of a flood, he said ... or what is called a 10-year flood. Although beaver dams and silt are being removed, the area will still be “vulnerable ... to significant flooding events,” Hass said. Levees could improve protection, but they would be expensive, Eaton said.