The Porter County Department of Development & Storm Water Management says the county’s 10 most-needed stormwater projects have a $48 million price tag. The list, and an explanation of the individual projects, were presented to the Porter County Council at its monthly meeting June 26 to allow the council to begin addressing a funding gap.
The projects in order of perceived necessity are as follows:
1) Carriage Hills Subdivision had cars falling into sinkholes in 2022. One resident and her teenage daughter had to be rescued from their vehicle after it sank several feet down into their driveway. The $1.3 million in work needed there will begin soon after the septic system perimeter drains from each home that tie into the stormwater drains are done being analyzed.
2) Salt Creek Valley Commons Subdivision has $11.4 million in needs, while 3) Shorewood Forest Subdivision requires $12 million in upgrades. American Rescue Plan Act funds have been allocated for parts of the Carriage Hills and Salt Creek Valley projects.
4) New South Haven Subdivision has stormwater infrastructure needs of $6.9 million while 5) Coventry Subdivision needs $4.7 million in spending. “The materials used were certainly substandard,” Porter County Engineer Mike Novotney told the council of the materials originally used to build that neighborhood’s infrastructure. Camera analysis of the stormwater system there “looks like a roller coaster, which isn’t good,” Novotney said.
6) The Kankakee River has an abundance of needs being addressed by a consortium. The county participates in the Kankakee River Basin & Yellow River Basin Development Commission. The 2019 Kankakee River Flood & Sediment Management Work Plan commissioned by the Basin Development Commission indicates approximately $135 million, in 2019 dollars, in spending needs for the basin.
Per state statute, Porter County contributes approximately $200,000 per year to the Basin Development Commission from its stormwater fund. Seven other counties in the basin contribute a similar pro rata share.
7) North Stimson Drain near the Fairgrounds needs $1.5 million in spending, while 8) Fieldstone Manor Subdivision and 9) Rolling Meadows Subdivision need $1 million each. The systems in these two subdivisions, built with corrugated pipe or substandard plastic pipe, are consistent with construction methods used for all subdivisions of their era. “You could extend that to any similarly sized subdivision in Porter County,” Novotney told the council of the spending needed.
Finally, 10) Old South Haven Subdivision needs an additional $7.4 million spent on its stormwater infrastructure in addition to $15 million already spent. All storm sewers in Old South Haven are now new.
The county also needs approximately $1.5 million per year to operate and maintain the public stormwater infrastructure, including 600 miles of streams, ditches, drain tiles and storm sewers; 200 culverts; 2,000 miles of roadside ditches; and approximately 150 water treatment and management facilities.
Porter County’s stormwater fee was put in place in 2016. “A dollar in 2016 is about 50 cents today,” Novotney said. The county currently has about $1.25 million to put into stormwater projects yearly. Novotney said an increase in the fee is one possible source for the funding shortfall. He likened the fund and the work it will facilitate to the progress made with the bridge fund.
He said there were 25 bridges that needed to be replaced when his office took over the bridge fund in 2016. “By the end of the decade, we will have replaced all those listed as priority,” he said. “It’s of utmost importance for public safety.”
Councilman Mike Brickner, R-At-Large, thanked Novotney for the update.
“I think it reiterates our purpose in county government. These needs, maybe not very sexy with stormwater … but these are things that the taxpayers deserve for us to take action (on) and to put as priorities,” he said. “Really looking at this should be a priority.”
Shelley Jones is a freelance reporter for the Post-Tribune.
