Tuscaloosa Neighbors Together (TNT) is a community organization with the goals of promoting and preserving the quality of our neighborhoods. So when a recent study conducted by the city of Tuscaloosa identified sixteen new flood prone areas in the city, we took notice. This announcement comes only four years after the Noah’s Arc project was set into motion to fix the most flood prone areas in Tuscaloosa. To Mayor Maddox’s credit, he has moved quickly to identify the new areas and to work with the developer of the Woodlands apartments to remedy the most serious flooding. Additional stormwater management projects are being planned to remedy the problems in other areas. However simply creating Noah’s Arc-II seems shortsighted to us and does not address the cause of the flooding itself. Furthermore, when the city drainage engineer compares neighborhood flooding to the inconvenience of game day traffic, we feel that this trivializes the loss and cost that the flooding has caused some home owners. The solution requires changes in conditions under which the construction projects are approved and in the methods that are used to deal with flood prone areas.
City Engineer Chad Christian repeatedly claimed that flooding in some areas was more likely due to historic levels of rainfall rather than new development. While there is no doubt that this accounts for some problems, the fact that a recently approved project is associated with some of the worst flooding should make us all a bit uneasy. The Woodlands development transformed acres of meadow into a high density apartment complex filled with concrete, asphalt, and rooftops that cannot absorb the rain as well as the meadow, even in a modest storm. In approving this project, the City Council is reported by the Tuscaloosa News to have ignored the concerns of the engineering staff about flooding. The recent revelation that flooding in other areas of the city was caused by the city’s lack of maintenance of the drainage system is alarming and suggests that there has been gross inattention to the problem for many years.
In addition, our City Council and Planning Board need to recognize that flooding is only one problem that our neighborhoods face when developers denude acres of natural landscape. John Wathen, the Hurricane Creek Creekkeeper, has pointed out that there has been a systematic disregard for protecting the many creeks and streams that flow through Tuscaloosa. Not only do these waterways contribute to the beauty of many neighborhoods by feeding the ponds, lakes, and creeks that are located there, they provide a service to residents as well as the City by absorbing and slowing rainfall and runoff. But when the waterways become clogged with silt from uncontrolled construction site erosion, the result is a slow infill of these small neighborhood bodies of water. This is happening in Woodland Hills, at the Woodland Forrest Golf Course, Cherokee Hills, and the lake at the corner of Fairmont and Lakeshore Drive.
TNT advocates for greater attention in the approval process for stormwater management and how run off will impact existing bodies of water. Planning only for 10 year rainfall events seems short-sighted, given the life expectancy of homes and apartments is much longer than this. First-time homeowners often take on 20 to 30 year mortgages and they should not expect to be flooded two-three times before the mortgage is paid because of poor planning. Requiring a professional study of the wetlands, floodplains, drainage and nearby streams before development occurs is a necessity to ensure that the new development does not cause damage to our existing neighborhoods.
The city staff and its boards seem to be trying to rectify some of the problems that have occurred, but as observers of the process we still see reason for concern. At the August 23rd Zoning Board of Adjustment meeting, the developers of the Woodlands sought a variance for a fence that was higher than is allowable under existing city regulations. In the course of that discussion the representatives of the developer indicated that they were unsure what type of fence was approved in the original application. It was further revealed by neighbors to the apartment complex that fencing that faced their back yards had barbed wire at eye level and that the erosion around the fence was causing significant damage to their yards. Since it is it was not clear at the meeting if fencing was even included in the original plans, it is difficult to know if the city should be blamed for approving something so obviously out of character with the adjacent properties or if the developer should be blamed for not following the plans that were approved.
Over a year ago, the City Council approved a landscape ordinance which was to help improve the practices on commercial development sites. At that time many citizens and community groups including TNT expressed concern about the way in which the City was handling stormwater runoff and its poor enforcement of existing requirements. In response to those concerns the City promised a new set of subdivision regulations which would require Low Impact Development practices in new residential areas which would greatly reduce if not completely resolve the erosion problems we are now experiencing. Sadly, we have yet to see any new subdivision regulations and enforcement of existing regulations is still essentially nonexistent.
TNT is developing an annual report card to help citizens review how well the city handles issues that affect our neighborhoods. Right now we give them an “I” for Incomplete. Mayor Maddox has stated that the city needs to be more aggressive in addressing drainage problem and is asking for citizens to call the city’s 311 hotline if they see a problem. While a step in the right direction, this strikes us as a reactive approach that focuses on fixing problems after they have occurred. We call for a proactive approach that enforces and improves existing practices.
We would like to see development practices that leave natural buffers around creeks, streams, wetlands and watershed undisturbed wherever possible. Older subdivision developments in Tuscaloosa such as Springhill Lake, Woodland Forrest, Cherokee Hills, Beech Hills, and Woodland Hills were developed while leaving a great deal of the woods and natural landscape in place. Surely, forty years later we can ask developers to do the same. TNT looks forward to the day when a new apartment complex is named “The Woodlands” and that the name actually applies.
Joan M. Barth
Tuscaloosa Neighbors Together
contacttnt@tuscaloosaneighborhoods.org
5541 Woodberry Lane
Tuscaloosa, AL 35405
205-393-9012