MORGANTOWN — Monongalia County Director of Planning Andrew Gast-Bray said Wednesday the flooding that occurred in and around Acorn Village earlier this month was not caused by nearby development, but was simply the unfortunate result of too much rain in too little time.
Gast-Bray was tasked by the Monongalia County Commission to investigate concerns brought by Acorn Village resident Louann Hendershot on behalf of multiple homeowners during the body’s June 18 meeting.
Hendershot said many properties within Acorn Village were “significantly damaged” by flooding during heavy rainfall. The neighborhood believes the flooding was made worse by work underway on the nearby Kings Court development – 30 three-bedroom townhomes to be built on 2.45 acres at 659 McCullough Ave.
Acorn Village borders the build site and is tucked away in a tangle of apartment buildings and housing developments between Valley View Avenue and McCullough Street, off Willowdale Road.
Hendershot was among the individuals who spoke out back in October, when the county commission approved, with conditions, a zoning change request to high-density residential, allowing for the development. Those conditions dealt largely with stormwater management.
She and others expressed concerns that additional construction would lead to more water runoff, which had been a growing problem as Acorn Village and the nearby Tanglewood and Park Hills neighborhoods became encircled by development.
In her most recent comments, Hendershot said she and her neighbors had been assured by the county commission, the county’s planning commission and the Morgantown Utility Board that all safeguards were in place, but the actions taken by developer RDR Properties LLC (Biaforas Inc.) appeared to deviate from what was presented and approved.
Gast-Bray said that was not the case.
Further, he pointed out that the developer, MUB and the county commission brokered a three-way deal to finance stormwater improvements in the area well beyond what was required to construct the project. Unfortunately, while those improvements have since been completed, they were under construction during the storm in question.
Lastly, he said a representative from the West Virginia Department of Environmental Protection indicated very localized areas saw downpours drop up to three inches in well under an hour during the rain event that flooded Acorn Village and various parts of Monongalia County and West Virginia.
“I have been coordinating with lots of people on this, and it’s my understanding from MUB and DEP that flooding would have happened anyway. It would have been different – instead of here, it’s here, but it still would have been an area that’s flooded,” Gast-Bray said. “It’s sad, but there was nothing really that can be done. The applicant that is building this has followed all the requirements by law, and then some.”
During the October zoning hearing, Scott Copen of Cheat Road Engineering said the drainage improvements being implemented with the assistance of the developer would benefit the entire 35-acre watershed despite King’s Court representing a very small percentage of that area.
Dave Biafora, representing the developer, noted the upgrades were completely unnecessary to the project but were “the right thing to do.”
Commission Sean Sikora reiterated that point Wednesday, explaining the improvements ended up costing more than double the original $320,000 estimate – an overrun largely absorbed by MUB.
Sikora said it simply came down to timing – flood-inducing rains fell before the additional capacity was in place.
“We have concerns for this area. We’ve been working to address the problems in this area. That’s no consolation when you’re replacing your flooring or throwing stuff away that got flooded, but we have been on top of this project through our planning office and through communications with us,” he said. “It simply was an issue of timing.”
