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HomeMy WebLinkAboutSDP201800058 Correspondence 2018-09-04 ..ssik< rl (Zit' \lei ✓4E,.,, VI( ?,,.,e.h(s) Robert Whaley September 4,209 8 52 Canterbury Road Charlottesville, VA 22903 (, , q.: Re: SDP201800058 UVA Outdoor Tennis—Initial Site Plan k anu w lm1J Tom 1 Dear Site Review Committee: - %1k1�1�1, - Sinn - Sys»l tlA v..Swt,‘ This summer the residents of Canterbury Road in the neighborhood of Bellair have experienced 2 significant floods. The first was on May 30th and at the time it was by far the worst flood we have had in living memory. However much worse than that flood, was the one on July 31st. The May 30th flood was the big flood that got lots of news attention. The July 31st flood was more local and was mainly reported in the news as a flood in Azalea Park. My neighbors and I (50, 52, 54, and 56 Canterbury Road) are concerned that these floods are partly due to the past dozen years of development in and around the Boar's Head Inn, Old Ivy Road, and Ivy Road. We have compared Google Earth maps (https://drive.google.com/open?id=17ZQpe-g7VS5TOFIcczkoiW97KxjLmFCX) over time,and there have been numerous buildings, roads, and parking lots built upstream. We have also started to look at some of the more recent storm water runoff plans. For example, the storm water document for the new UVA tennis facility shows plans to mitigate additional runoff. That's great, but it concerns us that the analysis goes no further than a 10-year storm, and that storm is defined as 5.64 inches over 24 hours. We had 2 short storms that were greater than that amount just this summer (the July 31st storm was 8 inches in a few hours according our rain gauge). As best we can tell based on the planning document, both of the floods this summer would have been worse if the new Tennis facility had been present. We experienced unprecedented flooding during these storms. Even the existing runoff was enough to create a raging river through yards and to flood garages and basements of houses along the creek. The July flood knocked over a brick wall that had stood for many years (see photo: https://drive.google.com/drive/folders/1 OM1bhA3v11B4gbCoMvhYasiHi tind9F94). And some have had to tear out basement walls, replace appliances and HVAC equipment, and throw away soaked carpet and furnishings. If these floods had happened in 2017 or earlier, we would have been motivated to comment on the most recent of these projects. Perhaps we could have made up for earlier deficiencies by getting larger catchments built on the newer projects. Unfortunately we just weren't thinking about storm water runoff back when these projects were being approved. When complete, these new projects are likely to make things even worse for us. In light of the unprecedented flooding, we would like to see the Site Review Committee delay approval of this project and any other projects in the Morey Creek watershed until (1)there is a review of whether 5.64 inches over 24 hours is really representative of a "ten year" storm(considering 2 storms already this summer have exceeded that) (2) review the past plans for storm water runoff that have been constructed over the past dozen years to determine whether all these plans were correctly calculated and correctly constructed. Thank you for your attention to this matter and for your consideration. I am out of the country until September 19 so please feel free to contact my neighbor Susan Dallas 434-996-0694 if you would like to discuss our concerns or need more information. She will be attending the Site Review Committee meeting on September 6th at l 0:OOAM. Sincerely, Robert Whaley Hand Delivered by Susan Dallas Robert Whaley September 4, 2018 52 Canterbury Road Charlottesville, VA 22903 Re: SDP201800058 UVA Outdoor Tennis—Initial Site Plan Dear Site Review Committee: This summer the residents of Canterbury Road in the neighborhood of Bellair have experienced 2 significant floods. The first was on May 30th and at the time it was by far the worst flood we have had in living memory. However much worse than that flood, was the one on July 31st. The May 30th flood was the big flood that got lots of news attention. The July 31st flood was more local and was mainly reported in the news as a flood in Azalea Park. My neighbors and I(50, 52, 54, and 56 Canterbury Road) are concerned that these floods are partly due to the past dozen years of development in and around the Boar's Head Inn, Old Ivy Road, and Ivy Road. We have compared Google Earth maps (https://drive.google.com/open?id=17ZQpe-g7VS5TOFIcczkoiW97KxjLmFCX)over time, and there have been numerous buildings, roads, and parking lots built upstream. We have also started to look at some of the more recent storm water runoff plans. For example,the storm water document for the new UVA tennis facility shows plans to mitigate additional runoff. That's great, but it concerns us that the analysis goes no further than a 10-year storm, and that storm is defined as 5.64 inches over 24 hours. We had 2 short storms that were greater than that amount just this summer(the July 31st storm was 8 inches in a few hours according our rain gauge). As best we can tell based on the planning document, both of the floods this summer would have been worse if the new Tennis facility had been present. We experienced unprecedented flooding during these storms. Even the existing runoff was enough to create a raging river through yards and to flood garages and basements of houses along the creek. The July flood knocked over a brick wall that had stood for many years (see photo: https://drive.google.com/drive/folders/1 OMlbhA3v11B4gbCoMvhYasiHrtmd9F94). And some have had to tear out basement walls,replace appliances and HVAC equipment, and throw away soaked carpet and furnishings. If these floods had happened in 2017 or earlier,we would have been motivated to comment on the most recent of these projects. Perhaps we could have made up for earlier deficiencies by getting larger catchments built on the newer projects. Unfortunately we just weren't thinking about storm water runoff back when these projects were being approved. When complete,these new projects are likely to make things even worse for us. In light of the unprecedented flooding, we would like to see the Site Review Committee delay approval of this project and any other projects in the Morey Creek watershed until (1)there is a review of whether 5.64 inches over 24 hours is really representative of a "ten year" storm (considering 2 storms already this summer have exceeded that)(2) review the past plans for storm water runoff that have been constructed over the past dozen years to determine whether all these plans were correctly calculated and correctly constructed. Thank you for your attention to this matter and for your consideration. I am out of the country until September 19 so please feel free to contact my neighbor Susan Dallas 434-996-0694 if you would like to discuss our concerns or need more information. She will be attending the Site Review Committee meeting on September 6th at 10:00AM. Sincerely, Robert Whaley Hand Delivered by Susan Dallas RECEIVED SEP 0 5 201R COMMUNITY DEVELOPMENT