Mitigation of stormwater runoff damage could cost millions of dollars.
by Don Moniak
December 11, 2023
Aiken City Council will meet in a work session on Monday, December 11th at 6 pm to discuss the Woodside Ravine Stabilization Project.
The topic has been ongoing since 2016. . On May 8th of this year, Council held a Work Session to address the issue. The minutes of that meeting reported that a “Ravine” had developed along Hollow Creek in Woodside Plantation (Figure 1), and that:
“Erosion in the ravine has increased substantially and poses dangers to two neighboring homes. An analysis of the origin of the stormwater indicates that much of the stormwater that enters the ravine comes from outside of Woodside Plantation (80%) in a stormwater basin that begins west of Whiskey Road bordered by an area near the intersection of Dougherty Road and Silver Bluff Road, to the intersection of Whiskey Road and Chukker Creek Road.
The Woodside Plantation Properties Owners Association (WPPOA) requests that the City pay 80% of the costs to stabilize the ravine, and the WPPOA will pay the remaining 20%.”
Information (Table 1) obtained via a Freedom of Information Act request (1) indicates the estimated preliminary price tag to prevent further damage is $2 million. The records reveal some of the following information:
1. Two residences are within fifteen to twenty feet of the stream where continued erosion of the channel bank continues.
2. Total required stabilization area is approximately 27,340 sf. This results in a material cost of approximately $400,000. Actual installation costs will vary based on access, clearing and equipment used, so that cannot be estimated as part of this evaluation.
3. This past September, the firm of Wildlands Engineering wrote,
“Due to site constraints primarily associated with potential construction costs, proximity of habitable structures to the stream channel and the need for substantial property and/or easement acquisition required to restore this to a natural stable system, Wildlands has determined that the full restoration of this area would be cost and logistically prohibitive.
Additionally, localized restoration around the habitable structures, in danger of economic loss, is not feasible from an ecological standpoint without the implementation of significant fill dirt and bank excavation. Therefore, Wildlands respectfully declines the opportunity to complete future assessment and design associated with this project.”
Wildlands remains involved in the project, as its letter in the agenda package indicates.
At Council’s October 23rd meeting, City Councilwoman Andrea Gregory suggested that discussions may be in place to buy out affected property owners.(2)
| Documents Released in Response to FOIA Request | |
|---|---|
| Woodside Plantation Evaluation Summary is a two-page letter from Wildlands Engineering describing the challenges of any stabilization effort and a $400,000 cost-estimate for materials. | |
| 091219-GeoSurvey 20166250-sheet 1.pdf, is a land survey for one of the affect properties. | |
| 091219-GeoSurvey 20166250-sheet 2.pdf, is a land survey for the second affected property. | |
| 2019.09.06_ES_SummaryReport_WPPOA (1).pdf, is a 2019 letter from Pond Company regarding information streambank stabilization measures. | |
| 38-2125 Woodside Plantation Streambank Stabilization Project.pdf, is a 2019 report titled “Subsurface Exploration and Geotechnical Engineering Report” by ECS Southeast. | |
| CIty of Aiken – Letter for Ravine Grant.pdf, is an October 2022 letter from Woodside Property Owners Association identifying proposed cost sharing measures for an estimated project cost of $2 million: 20% by WPPA and 80% by the City of Aiken. | |
| Ravine Stabilization Project.pptx is a powerpoint presentation with photos and summaries of the problem. | |
| Streambank Stabilization Concepts 20200121- flattened.pdf, contains four pages of detailed engineering drawings from Pond Company showing | |
Footnotes
(1) FOIA Request 358-2023 was as follows:
“Regarding the “ravine” in Woodside Plantation referenced By Councilwoman Andrea Gregory at City Council’s 10/23/23, meeting : 1. Copies of all inspections, reports, or other documentation by The City of Aiken engineering department, especially stormwater MGMT 2. A listing, if available , of all damage claims made to the City of Aiken . Since this information should be in the risk management departments spreadsheet of all current claims resulting from harmful incidea affecting both public and private property, this entire document Is being requested.
(2) City Council’s October 23, 2023 meeting minutes reported Councilwoman Gregory’s comments as follows:
“Councilwoman Gregory stated she is not a professional in stormwater or engineering, but she is a professional in listening to the community and listening to the issues and the horrendous stormwater management that the city has developed over decades. She said she feels proud of Council because she feels that Council has made tremendous strides in working to address infrastructure.
She pointed out the ravine issue in Woodside which has turned into a very bad stormwater issue. She reviewed the issue. She pointed out we need housing, retail, etc. That turned into a very bad stormwater management issue behind Woodside. It is now eating up the properties of homeowners in Woodside. Now we have a severe ravine that has developed that is eating up people’s property. The City may have to purchase homes from these residents because it is tearing up their yard. It is now about a $2+ million-dollar project. We are now trying to figure out if the City and the Property Owners Association are going to work together to meet that gap because stormwater was not managed before. We were promised that it was all going to be addressed later.
She noted that stormwater is big. She said she had talked to people on Dougherty Road, Neilson, Fabian and the areas that are being affected by stormwater.” (Page 29 of 11/13/23 Meeting Agenda Information Packet)