City, property owners discuss remediation for flash flooding

By Correne Martin

A small representation of homeowners impacted by Prairie du Chien’s bluff-side flash flooding incident of Sept. 12 spoke at Tuesday’s city council meeting, after hearing what plans city officials have to make adjustments for the future. 

The storm brought three inches of rain in about 15 minutes, pushing mud, branches and other rubble from the 730 acres of land atop the bluffs down the Highway 27 corridor into the eastern neighborhood of the city beneath the bluffs.

“It came down fast and inundated the system,” said City Administrator Chad Abram, noting that by the time city officials could get on scene, it was too late to unplug the system.

The Courier Press reported, in late 2016, that the city worked with the county and its engineering firm, Vierbicher Associates, to conduct flood mitigation work on that section of the community. Trees were removed, grading was done and two detention basins and a bypass storm sewer, from Webster Street to Godden’s Pit, were built. Trash racks and pond outlets were also installed to the north of Mondell Hill and by Jackson Street. 

The intent of the project was to slow rainwater and debris flowing down from the bluffs, alleviating runoff flood damage as a result of heavy rain events. 

Regarding the September 2019 storm, Abram explained at Tuesday’s meeting that city public works personnel have moved some debris and sediment out of the basins. They are making some modifications to a storm trash rack at Jackson Street and assessing work on Campbell Creek as well, which could include digging out the ditch and putting a second culvert under the railroad. The city is looking into connecting Godden’s Pit right into the storm sewer that goes to directly to the river. 

“It’s to the point now where we’re battling with groundwater. That has to be part of our discussion,” Abram stated, sharing that Godden’s Pit has been dug nearly as deep as the current water table. 

Additionally, the city is pursuing possible grants toward assisting a couple businesses affected by the flash flooding. 

Property owner Dave Ralph said he’s been thinking long and hard about this topic since the latest inundation. 

“Radio Lane used to be a farm. Now it’s developed and there’s nowhere for the rain to go,” he remarked. “We need to stop it upstream first, on top of the hill.” He suggested the city work with the county on doing so, and Alderman Todd Myers, who’s also the county highway superintendent, said that is happening. 

Ralph also suggested the city look into a holding area on the White property on top of the bluff, where water could perhaps be directed. 

Other affected property owners Derek and Mendy Cheesbro gave their input to the council. Mendy asked whether the city has a record of when the trash racks are cleaned and maintained, and Abram said there is not necessarily a record of that. 

Myers added that, in talking with city street superintendent Dan Titlbach, there are not many pieces of equipment that can easily get into the trash rack areas and clean them. 

“They hold water and sediment, and with the year we’ve had, they never dried out enough to go in,” he said. Plus, such equipment is unique, expensive and not easy to get. “We got one this last time because it was in the area to clean up around railroad bridges. Myers thought maybe the city could consider contracting to have the trash racks cleaned out more regularly.

“We just need to give the system the best chance to work,” Mendy declared. 

Several council members and property owner Phil Burgess touched on the controversial topic of climate change, believing these “unusual” rain events are becoming more of the norm.

“I know some people do not believe in it, but we’ve never seen water like this and the river has been high all year,” Burgess said. He also agreed with Ralph and said there are not enough measures upstream to stop the massive waterflow in these events. “We gotta make a plan. We have neighbors cleaning up after all these storms and they shouldn’t have to.”

TID 4 closed

During Tuesday’s council meeting, administrator Abram presented checks for $54,843 to the Prairie du Chien Area School District, $35,880 to Crawford County, $43,348 to the city and $6,372 to Southwest Tech that resulted from the closure of tax increment financing (TIF) district 4, which had surplus dollars to be distributed. A final audit of the district was recently completed after the TIDs termination Sept. 25 and submitted to the Department of Revenue. 

According to a memo from City Planner Garth Frable, TID revenue collected exceeded the TID expenditures, resulting in a total surplus of $140,443 and the subsequent dispersed funds. 

“When there is a surplus, the surplus is divided among the overlying taxing districts based upon each district’s proportion of tax levy,” the memo stated. “The city has been extremely successful with its TIDs. The TIDs have helped to create or retain thousands of jobs while generating over $50 million of new tax base. 

City officials attribute this success to forward-thinking city councils and other taxing districts, an active and aggressive industrial development corporation, former city administrator Gary Koch, Vierbicher Associates and businesses and industries that were willing to locate and expand in Prairie du Chien.

ATV/UTV street use ordinance postponed

Some verbiage was found that needs tweaking within the ordinance that will allow ATVs and UTVs to utilize city streets. This was noticed at the state level. So official approval of the ordinance was delayed. The city attorney will work with the Department of Transportation to include the proper language. Then, hopefully by the next meeting, Abram said, the ordinance will get its final approval.

Boat landing project delayed

Due to the continued high water this year, reconstruction of the ramps for the Villa Louis Boat Landing project has been postponed for a year, according to Abram. Though, he said, people will see paving of the parking lot in that vicinity as soon as this Friday.