Oak Orchard flooding projects inch forward

Oak Orchard resident Jon Stout says his small riverbank community along Indian River isn’t ever going to stay dry during large weather events. After describing his River Road property as like the drain at the bottom of a bathtub, he said he is not expecting the state to try and keep the community dry.

What he wanted, said Stout, is a solution to the constant flooding of his driveway. He estimated his property has flooded with feet of water 12 to 14 times this year. He said all it takes to flood is an east wind riding the river for more than one high tide cycle.

Stout has been a year-round resident of Oak Orchard for 20 years, and his family has been in the community since 1940. He said he can remember a time when the marsh on the backside of River Road was so deep – 15 feet – that he was told not to swim in it as a child. The marsh used to soak the water up, he said. Now, he continued, the marsh is 30 inches deep, and his property floods quickly. He suggested dredging the marsh.

Stout was one of a few dozen Oak Orchard residents who attended an Oct. 24 status update of five proposed projects intended to alleviate flooding and drainage issues.

The meeting was held at the Indian River Volunteer Fire Co. and hosted by Rep. Ruth Briggs King, R-Georgetown, and Sen. Gerald Hocker, R-Ocean View. A similar meeting was held last year, during which the projects were revealed after a nearly two-year, $100,000 analysis of the area.

Also on hand was Brooks Cahall, Delaware Department of Natural Resources and Environmental Control drainage program manager.

Addressing Stout, Cahall didn’t disagree that dredging the marsh could reduce flooding, but he said the regulatory red tape associated with that project would be immense, and not time well spent.

Cahall quickly reviewed the five projects, estimated to cost a little more than $3 million. The projects include widening culverts and drains on River Road, Mercer Avenue and in the Oak Meadows development off Oak Orchard Road. Other improvements include regrading old channels and creating new ones.

Since last year’s meeting, said Cahall, $453,000 in funding has been secured to pay for developing bid-ready construction documents for the projects.

Recognizing the snail-paced progress, Cahall attempted to quell the obvious frustration in the room. He said the project was important to the state, and things were continuing to move forward. He estimated it would take 10 months to complete the plans.

To date, no funding has been set aside for the projects, said Hocker, but developing construction-ready plans puts them in a much better position than not having them.

Stout was far from the only frustrated person in the room.

Tom Kisielnicki said one of the problems is the community’s boat launches. He said every time it floods, the water first comes up the launches. He suggested closing the boat launches and requiring property owners to put in bulkheads.

King said this suggestion has been raised in the past, but there are eminent domain issues with property owners along the riverbank.

Other folks talked about establishing an overlay zoning district to help pay for improvements. This was also brought up at last year’s meeting.

Sussex County Administrator Todd Lawson told residents the county was willing to work with the community to create an overlay district, but one of this nature would be unusual in Sussex County. He said most of the time these districts are created to help a specific development pay for the creation of sewer infrastructure or the paving of roads. Additionally, he said, these projects typically run from the hundreds of thousands to maybe just over $1 million.

“I’m not going to paint a rosy picture,” said Lawson. The multi-million dollar price tag on the project, he said, would be divided by the number of residents in the district over a 20-year period.