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CITIZEN STATEMENTS TO COUNCIL
Lee Faust - 411 W 7th - read the following:
This is regarding the property at 411 W. 7th Ave. My father has lived on the property for 60 years. I grew up there, and I can tell you from living there that we never had this issue before the recent reconstruction project was done. Water is flowing into his foundation through the block and pouring into the sump pump pit. His sump pump is kicking on and running every 20 seconds. I am over there constantly monitoring this and that is how quickly the pit is filling up. It has been going on since September 19, and it is running thousands of times per day.
There was a power outage which immediately flooded the basement in minutes. His furnace is in his basement, as well as the water heater. I contacted the supervisor and showed the recent floodwater marks on a table and bench where the water had risen in the short time the power was out. The power was out for roughly an hour and a half and in that amount of time, the water level was up 4 inches. The basement has standing water on the floor even after cleanup because the water is coming right through the block. There’s a lot of pressure around the foundation and walls because of the excessive groundwater. This was relayed to me by my plumber and he has also informed me the sump pump is wearing out, making a bearing noise. I contacted him in regards to having a backup sump pump on hand for when the pump wears out. The upstairs has a musty smell as soon as you enter the home, and it is impossible to dry the basement even with fans running because of the water flowing through the mortar and block. The ground outside where they poured has groundwater leaking or escaping from below. The concrete will never set properly and will sink and break apart. I researched this personally on the Internet and I’ve spoken to a professional concrete gentleman with 40+ years of experience pouring concrete and he confirmed this to be true, if they pour that with a very short time, they’re going to be ripping that apart. We just had perfect drying conditions being sunny with only trace rain over two weeks, but the ground remains wet and the sump pumps are still running. If we get any measurable amount of rain, the sump pump will not be able to keep up. This past spring and summer saw tremendous rainfall, one of the wettest ever recorded for the state of Wisconsin. The month of June alone saw 6.97 inches of rain for the state, that’s 48% above normal and the property did not experience anything like what we’re dealing with now. There was only some dampness in the basement and the sump pump was not running a cycle time of 20 seconds, I was personally there to verify this, but I’m helping my father to take care of his property. We also had a plumbing doing work during this time frame, and they can attest to the condition of the basement as they had their tools and building supplies stored down there. This issue has been absolutely overwhelming. I wake up every night and start thinking about it and worrying about the sump pump, burning out, or another power outage that causes the basement to immediately be flooded. It’s almost like dealing with a major thunderstorm with torrential rain that’s coming every night of your life. It is that severe to these properties tunnel that they just replaced on the other side of the street around 25 years ago and it was doing an adequate job. The properties were not having any groundwater flooding issues when we had the major flood in Oshkosh in 2008 when 5.4 inches of rain fell in a couple of hours and the entire City of Oshkosh was flooded. According to Casey Kennedy (engineering), the highway 41 tunnel water level is already right up to the top. I don’t see how you can add any more water to this tunnel. It’s overwhelming already and once again it has not been raining. Rainwater is also to be fed into this tunnel. I initially contacted Casey Kennedy on Monday, September 23 with no response back. I waited a few days and I went down to City Hall on Thursday, September 26 and spoke to supervisor Alyssa Decker. She took down some brief notes and informed me that nobody would be available to speak with me as they were all out of the office until Monday. Once again, no one contacted me so finally on October 4 I called again and asked if he would come to the property to see what we were dealing with. It was 12 days before anyone showed up to even acknowledge the problem that we are dealing. For the city to say that we always had this ongoing flooding issue and some pumps always running is absolutely ridiculous. How can you make a statement like that when you’ve never lived on the property or even been in the home? That’s just showing their ignorance and total apathy for the problem they’ve caused along with zero acceptance of responsibility. Oshkosh just went through a reassessment. If you cannot fix this issue you created, the property owners at the current assessed value and you can deal with this extremely detrimental issue. The total apathy in regard to this issue is unbelievable. I was told by Casey on October 4 and quoting him, “This is just something you’re going to have to deal with”. That is a completely unacceptable response. Wasn’t the whole purpose of the reconstruction project to make things better? You have created an intolerable living situation for numerous property owners on 7th Avenue. (pictures were delivered to the clerk's office and forwarded to the council and included with the initial grievance)
Mr. Faust then went on to show a short video of his father’s basement/sump pump.
Alia Carroll - 417 W 7th - read the following:
This is an additional reference to our original grievance letter that my neighbors collaboratively worked on: On the evening of Thursday, September 19 without any rain water started gushing into our pump pits, causing our yard and street to flood with just the discharge alone. A police report was filed. However, despite efforts to notify the city representatives to help rectify this damage, the water has not stopped draining into our sump pump pit since this event. We discovered groundwater levels have risen to a couple of feet below ground level directly caused by the reconstruction project, meaning the groundwater is now surrounding our foundation, adding pressure to our foundations, causing seepage, and deterioration to our properties while causing this continuous low water tarp. As a result, our sump pumps have been continuously running since September 19 without any rain / very little rain. Our sump pumps run anywhere from 10 seconds to a few minutes, depending on the property. This event has been severely alarming. It is abnormal for some pumps to run this consistently, keeping in mind again no rain. Before the reconstruction project, our basements were dry, and our sump pumps would run during rainfall, maybe spring thaw. So now every day we have to anxiously wait for our sump pumps to burn out from endless use. We dread rainfall as our properties are now extremely vulnerable to flooding and we are astonished by how much our property values have been negatively impacted by this CIP project.
I’m going to read a letter from my plumber as well: To whom it concerns, J Cox (?) plumbing has been servicing the residence of 417 W. 7th Ave. for the last few years. In the recent couple of weeks, while working on updating the plumbing, I noticed the sump pump discharge outside of the residence was spraying water every five seconds. I quickly ran the pipe to the storm drain that was recently installed in her yard. When looking down inside the storm drain, I noticed that the water level was extremely high. If you transfer this level to the foundation of our house, it would be roughly 4 to 5 feet above the basement floor. Alia made the smart decision to add a battery backup system just in case of loss of power. In the process of the installation, I noticed her foundation is leaking in a couple of different areas. This basement was dry, and the sump pump rarely went off before the construction of her road. I’m concerned if her sump pump dies, her basement will be quickly taken over by the high water that was brought in from the recent work on the road. Since the city has now artificially raised the groundwater level and the overflow from this underground river is continuously flooding our properties. I am very fearful. I share the same anxiety that Lee has shared as well. So now I think constantly, what will happen when it rains? Because my basement will flood now. Will my appliances, water heater, and furnace by damaged? What if the power goes out? How long will this battery backup on this new system even last? If it’s a Saturday night and my plumber isn’t available to change my sump pump, what happens then? How long will my sump pump last? How many times will I need to replace this sump pump? How long before foundation begins to deteriorate from being submerged underwater? What if my basement wall caves in due to too much pressure? Will I ever be able to even sell this house anymore because I have constant water pouring into my sump pump pit? How much has my value of my property been depreciated because of this project? Will the City even listen or help me? The damage this CIP project has shown is immediate and noticeable. The water damage is clearly going to destroy my home if it is left unaddressed. My mental health has suffered from this ongoing damage, and I’m forced to live with my phone beside me 24 hours a day waiting for the notice of my sump pump failure. I have it on loud 24 hours a day, when I’m sleeping, in meetings. Now imagine again, my sump pump fails, it’s Sunday at midnight. Who do you call to replace a sump pump? If my battery backup lasts four hours max…? You can do the math. My basement will be flooded. So, I insist that going forward, the city reverses the damages caused by the CIP project and compensates me for the preventable expenses that I’ve incurred including a new sump pump system I had to install and flood insurance of nearly $4000. I’ve been consulting with the lawyer on this case, but I’m hoping that the city will take our grievance seriously and work quickly to fix this issue.
Julie Klintworth - 427 W 7th - read the following:
Good evening – I’ve been a property owner and resident for 14 years. During those 14 years, basement water infiltration has not been an issue. The sump pump worked when needed for spring thaw and summer rains. With the new and so-called improvements to the road... what has changed? Basement water infiltration is now a common occurrence in a basement that for 14 years was dry. A compromised basement floor with cracks and fishers that I have to repair. Continuous sump pump activation. Increased utility bills because of this. A shifting foundation. How do I know it’s shifting? I have plaster walls in the house and I see horizontal vertical cracks beginning to develop. Who is going to take care of that? And, diminished property values. My hope is that the council, city manager, engineering department, and Director of Public Works will take our concerns and be proactive. Do not give us empty platitudes. Do not tell us you’ll have to live with it now. Step up, we are here as residents. As taxpayers, we want resolutions. Thank you for your time.
Cort Lakosh - 433 W 7th - gave the following statement:
We were here in the house during the flood of 2008 and had to put a furnace in and a water heater. Since that time, the house has been dry. My wife and I kept the house, and my mom now resides in it. At the beginning of this project, I kept telling her, yes, it’s going to get worse as this project goes on. It’s going to be a very big project, but it will come to an end. Now as we’re coming to an end, I see things getting worse. The other culvert was supposed to take water away but is 100% full. We are supposed to be in a drought right now and water is over the top of the rings. I would like to have some kind of spec sheets (should be a public record) of what this thing is supposed to be filled up to. If the rings on top of the discharge are for the drains on the side of the road, is it supposed to be full to the top? We are within 6 inches of the top of the road, and we don’t even have any rain. How is it supposed to carry water away? I believe the rings were not on top level so all the water from the Winnebago system dumped into our yards. Is that an engineering thing? In my experience over the years, as a plumber steam fitter union member,, I’ve never seen a drainage ditch like that, that full when we didn’t have rain. It should be a public record. I’d like to see some spec sheets on this and engineering should know that it’s been put in that way. I want a safe place for my mom to live. Thank you.
Marcia Lakosh - 433 W 7th - gave the following statement:
Marcia expressed her displeasure with the construction and project. She has been here for approximately 13 years. The construction around her house has been unsafe since March. They have not had access to driveways or putting their garbage cans out. Also, workers have been starting very early, and she believes there is an ordinance that they should not be starting this early. Marcia is not happy with how long it has taken to get this project done. There is no safe place provided to walk or place the garbage. Thank you.
Mayor Mugerauer noted that we cannot give direction or discuss this issue at this time because it is not on the agenda, but it’s my understanding that staff is working on this and they know about it.
City Manager Rohloff stated that he could give a brief update on the project itself. Rohloff noted that the staff is currently trying to figure out what is going on. “I’m sure this will not salsify residents, but I can tell them that we’ve had these situations before when we had a construction project very close to the water. When the city did a reconstruction of Bowen Street about 10 years ago, at the very south end near the river, residents had similar situations.” City Manager Rohloff noted that the city is faced with challenges when doing construction so close to the water. Staff is looking at alternatives and solutions regarding this project. The information and grievance letter was forwarded to the city’s insurance company, who will also do an investigation. Rohloff also noted that there is also the possibility of a closed session because of a potential lawsuit. |
