FALMOUTH — The town is taking a small parcel of land from a privately owned lot to facilitate a drainage project designed to address a serious erosion issue.
At its April 8 meeting the Town Council agreed to use its eminent domain powers on a property next to the paper street extension of Underwood Road, to ensure a new drainage pipe can be placed to the best advantage.
Town Manager Nathan Poore said negotiations to create an easement that would allow the town to cross a section of the lot broke down, which is why he recommended the eminent domain process.
In all, he said the town needs 900 square feet of land from three property owners. He was able to reach an agreement with two of them, but not the third, whom Poore did not identify.
Poore said the new drainage pipe would run from Glenn Road under the paper street and then follow a natural stream channel to the current outfall, which is perched on a steep slope above Casco Bay.
“During heavy, heavy rain events this is a super-charged outlet,” Poore said, that spits out water like a fire hose, causing considerable erosion.
The 24-inch pipe, which Poore said is very old, would be replaced with one of the same size. With this project, he said, the town is not trying to increase the capacity of the drainage pipe, just make the water flow more evenly.
The catchment area for the Underwood Road drainage pipe is large, and even includes a few neighborhoods in the adjacent town of Cumberland, according to Poore.
He said the project requires Maine Department of Environmental Protection approval, and construction likely wouldn’t begin until June 2020. A public hearing on the project will be held at 7 p.m. Monday, April 22.
Although the 7 inches of rain that fell during an August 2014 rainstorm washed out much of the slope surrounding the Underwood Road outfall, Poore said so far there’s been little additional erosion over the past few years.
Even so, he said, it’s time for the town to take action.
Council Chairman Caleb Hemphill agreed and said, “this site is in pretty significant disrepair and highly eroded. It’s not usual for us to take property, but this is way down in a ravine and should have no lasting impact” on the property owner.
Bob Kline, a resident on Seaside Way, said erosion is not just a problem for the Underwood Road area, and he would like the town to take a look at the entire drainage system for his neighborhood.
During the August 2014 storm, he and some of his neighbors experienced a “dramatic washout,” Kline said. That was followed by another significant rainstorm event in October 2016, which created a “wall of water” that washed out an embankment, which he had rebuilt at his own expense.
Kline said it’s not unusual for the catch basins in his neighborhood to be overwhelmed and asked the town to consider expanding its reach with the proposed drainage system replacement project.
Kate Irish Collins can be reached at 780-9097 or kcollins@theforecaster.net. Follow Kate on Twitter: @KIrishCollins.
It’s not unusual for water shooting from the Underwood Road outfall in Falmouth to cause significant erosion on this slope above Casco Bay.
The catchment area for the Underwood Road outfall in Falmouth also includes neighborhoods in the adjacent town of Cumberland.
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