MORGANTOWN, W.Va. — Residents of a development located a short walk away from Milan Puskar Stadium hope to meet with the Monongalia County Commission to discuss the potential flooding-related consequences of another development.
Community members of Acorn Village addressed the commission during their regular meeting Wednesday, where they expressed concerns over the development of Kings Court, a development located on McCullough Street just off Willowdale Road. Resident Lou-Ann Hendershot spoke on behalf of what she said were over 20 residents who expressed frustration after the most recent storms that brought over three inches of rain in about an hour caused flooding that has been seen over several months. This compounded several months of similar flooding incidents, which the residents allege were due to development issues.
“The Acorn Village Homeowners Association formally requests an immediate work session with this council and all relevant stakeholders,” said Hendershot. “Provide us an opportunity to discuss a collaborative path forward to ensure the safety and security of our community.”
According to Hendershot, the development of the 30 townhomes located a stone’s throw away from Acorn Village has affected property owners for now over a year. Based on what was said during the public portion of the commission’s meeting, the resulting construction of the multi-story structures has led to a downstream of high water that has resulted in several floods and damage to over a dozen homes. What has been alleged is that the development has moved forward in a different schedule and permit direction, which has prevented planned measures such as the Upper Popenoe Run drainage improvements by the Morgantown Utility Board from moving forward.
“The plans implemented by the developer appear to deviate from those initially approved,” said Hendershot. “The grubbing and grading permit allowed for extensive alteration before the installation of the stormwater management system designed to protect our community.”
During the closing portions of the meeting, Commissioner Sean Sikora and Commission President Jeff Arnett both presented updates on conversations that have taken place in recent weeks involving the Kings Court development. According to Arnett, he has spoken to Monongalia County Director of Planning Andrew Gast-Bray as well as MUB itself, who have had crews work on the Upper Popenoe Run drainage improvement project during that near year-long time frame. While there was an acknowledgment that recent storms have not helped the situation, the commission is hopeful that when the drainage project is completed, the concerns for flooding at Acorn Village should be lowered significantly.
“I know it doesn’t help you now, but our hope is in the future, when the Popenoe Run project gets completed, that that will hopefully alleviate some of the upstream problems that come down,” said Arnett.
As of this writing, MUB representatives reported that the Upper Popenoe Run project is expected to be fully completed by the end of the summer, with recent weather being the only delay causing factor preventing the work from being finished. This will support approximately $405,000 in drainage improvements, with the costs split by the county and by Metro Properties, the developer of Kings Court. With the project not expected to be fully completed for at least several weeks, the commissioners supported some level of discussion with the county planning office to alleviate any concerns.
“I think that the commission needs to have Andrew (Gast Bray) provide us with an after-summary report as far as what happened and any efforts by the developer that could’ve contributed to this flooding,” said Sikora. “So that we actually have our facts before we respond.”