Porter dries up Garden City

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Joseph Pratt

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The residents of Garden City, in Porter Township, will be able to rest easily knowing that the determined rain estimated to hit over the next week should not flood their yards and roads, thanks to the recent completion of the sewage project aimed to guide runoff water out of the way.

“The scope of the project was to relieve the several acres of the southern half of Garden City,” Porter Township Trustee and Chairman Jim Gill said. “That area is like a bowl and it just collects all that water.”

Flooding has troubled the area for some time, occasionally shutting down roads and running deep into residents’ yards. The trustees have been looking for a solution and finally planned on fixing the issues after the Spears Family gave the township an easement through their property to put in a drain. Trustees were then able to bid the project out and start the planning process.

Gill explained that the biggest issue with the Garden City community was always if the area saw anywhere upwards of one to two inches of rain, in which they typically had to shut Green Street down, because the road would become too badly flooded and crossed into neighboring yards.

“The easement gave us access to Pine Creek, which enabled us to start the project, because we really had no other place to dump the water,” Gill said. “Along with that easement, and our rights of way on Green Street and Locust Street, we were able to install approximately 2,000 linear foot of storm sewer tile, ranging anywhere from 12 inches to 36 inches in diameter. We also installed 13 catch basins in various locations to collect service water.”

All three of Porter Township’s Board of Trustees agree that the storm drain in Garden City is one of the biggest and most successful projects of the year, since it has been a project they have sought to complete for many, many years.

In fact, Gill said that the Garden City drainage project was one of his major focuses for the year, as he served his term of chairman, which will expire in December.

The drainage system encompass about four different areas of Garden City, which all drain to one area; finally, one drain line carries all water to a vacant field and Pine Creek.

Gill said that project cost right around $100,000. Architecture was completed by LR Purdom & Associates, Incorporated. Gill said that Porter Trustee Dave Hayden also had a major role in the project.

“We would like to thank the people of Garden City for their patience during this project. It took a little longer than we thought, but everyone remained very patient with us,” Gill said. “We are hopeful that this will relieve the southern acres of Garden City of the water that has typically been collected in that area. Once we see the outcome of the next hard rain, we will know if it was a success or if we need to expand it any further or in any other direction. However, we have drained all standing water from spring and it has remained dry ever since, so we take that as a good sign.”

Reach Joseph Pratt at 740-353-3101, ext. 1932, or by Twitter @JosephPratt03.

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