Residents attending tonight’s (October 23) Special Meeting on how the Village’s Resilient Infrastructure and Adaptation Program (RIAP) should or should not proceed at this point might want to bring some seat cushions.
This discussion could take a while.
The menu of topics for the 6 p.m. meeting in Council Chambers (TV: VKB-TV) got a little longer this past week when Councilman Ed London suggested, perhaps, a 60-day pause before deciding to issue a work order to Black and Veatch Corp. for program management and pre-construction services for the Zone 1 K-8 School stormwater drainage improvements at a cost not to exceed $896,948.
The work order agenda item was deferred to Wednesday night’s meeting. But, a 60-day pause, if deemed necessary, could jeopardize the timing of the overall project without having a program management team in place soon, Village officials said.
That part of the discussion will parallel one of the topics already on the table: Should the Village spend $575,000 on an independent party to analyze and power-clean the entire current stormwater system, as some residents have asked, to see what its capacities are during heavy rainfalls and how long the system could adequately function before spending millions of dollars?
The other part of the triangle will discuss the pros and cons of a force main system over the current gravity wells system, which at least a handful of residents have expressed their belief still has some 10 to 15 years of life if properly maintained.
The Village is currently on its way to at least a 60% design of Zone 1 (of a potential eight), including revamped stormwater drainage and utilities (electric, communications lines) being placed underground for $75 million.
In an Islander News interview earlier this month, Village Manager Steve Williamson said he welcomes those with their opinions, especially “if they come educated with information.”
“It’s really hard to do (to come up with a specific, opposing reasoning) because we do this every day,” he said. “They’re not professionals. Sure, some do research and some talk to professionals, but it’s really hard to come up with solutions as much as our engineers and consultants do. … The idea of keeping our current system, and that will solve our problem, is misguided.”
Williamson said solutions have been discussed for a decade or longer, “but as more information is coming out on sea level rise, I think we have a picture that our system is wholly inadequate (to handle future flooding).”
He does realize that with models anticipating sea level rise in 2060 or even 2070, “many of us” won’t be around to see if it works.
“It surprises me that certain residents are offering solutions without regard for other residents’ quality of life. … You see the flooding we have now. Maintaining the way we have (been doing it) is not going to solve the problem.”
Williamson said the current system is “deep into its lifespan, and we’re trying to move this system forward ten years (until a new, more effective system is in place). If you’re going to invest money (in the current system), I only see very marginal returns by 2035, and it won’t keep up with environmental changes.”
London said last Tuesday night that he believes there is “a very real possibility” that the proposed system might be “over-designed” for a satisfactory level of service since pervious runoff is not part of the engineers’ equation. He referred to the rising sea level data from the United Nations Surging Seas Report.
So, he recommended bringing in an independent analyst to review the amount of capacity required to avoid long periods of flooding.
“There’s a very real possibility exists that the design criteria now being employed by our engineers and consultants are such that we’ll have an over-design of anywhere from two to five times the capacity required for the level of service that is satisfactory for the Key,” London said, explaining that, perhaps, $200 million could be saved with further introspection from an independent source.
Williamson and his staff, who have produced a White Paper on the differences between a force main system and a gravity wells system, have continually updated Village Council members with a detailed project timeline chart. If the current path holds, the Zone 1 Integrated Project would be expected to be completed in the winter of 2028.
The current gravity well system is 15 to 20 years into its lifespan. To absorb the puddles as quickly as possible, consulting engineers have indicated that a forced pump system is much more efficient, with an expandable capacity to drain more than 2 inches of water an hour.
“We have to look at sea level rise in 2070,” Williamson said. “The curves show it accelerates … it gets worse over time, and we can’t afford to get behind that acceleration curve. If we wait, I don’t think we’re going to catch up. It’d be a waste of money to kick the can down the road.”
For the complete agenda packet for the October 23rd meeting, click here.