Porter County’s Storm Water Management Board will soon consider a policy for handling the cost of repairs from sinkholes.
In South Haven, where the county is undertaking $20 million in stormwater and drainage work through a bond issue, old stormwater lines are either being replaced or abandoned in place and filled with concrete to minimize settlement and potential voids, Mike Novotney, county engineer and director of engineering, told the board on Sept. 3.
Still, there is the possibility of future settlement causing sinkholes, he said, and there has been damage to rear and side yards in the past.
“Staff is proposing we develop a policy for how to handle this issue,” so it’s clear to both residents and the Twin Creeks Conservancy District, he said.
Under the proposal, engineering staff would investigate damage reports and handle the necessary repairs in yards and in any right of way or drainage easements, Novotney said. Residents are responsible for the rest of the repairs, but the county handles the contract for the work and the resident pays the share for which they are responsible.
Damage to sheds, other structures or landscaping is up to the homeowner, he said, adding residents who apply wouldn’t necessarily get assistance because of limited resources, funding and staffing.
“Property owners would have to grant us temporary easement” to get the work done, Novotney said.
The program, for now, would focus on the old area of South Haven “as a test case,” he said, and be expanded to the rest of unincorporated Porter County depending on how things go.
Sinkholes are a problem across the county, he said. Part of the issue is that garages, sheds, driveways and other infrastructure and structures can be damaged when a sinkhole spreads beyond an easement.
Commissioner Jim Biggs, R-North, who makes up the board with the county’s other two commissioners and Surveyor Kevin Breitzke, wanted to know if the county is liable if its stormwater line causes the damage.
“It depends on the damages and it depends on the circumstances,” said board attorney Scott McClure, including whether property owners build sheds, pools, gazebos and other structures in the easement. “Most of these things are in the drainage easement where they shouldn’t build.”
The permitting process for those structures now includes a review of whether they’re being proposed for a drainage area, McClure said.
If a sinkhole stretches from the drainage easement to the foundation of a house, though, the county might have some liability, he said.
” … this is the incubator for a policy for our countywide storm water program,” McClure said. Residents in unincorporated areas pay a fee which is used for stormwater improvements.
Breitzke said he didn’t know if the county should be in the business of repairing driveways, but said the county should consider the impact because of sinkholes.
Commissioner Jeff Good, R-Center, who serves as president of the storm water board, said the cost to replace a driveway because of a sinkhole should be depreciated.
“I think there needs to be some consideration on age of existing things, too, because we’re opening up a can of worms here to some extent,” he said. “I want to make sure we’re very focused on what we’re doing here.”
Amy Lavalley is a freelance reporter for the Post-Tribune.
