Politics & Government

Darien Selectmen Support Intervale Road Sewers

Flooding on and around Intervale Road that's severe enough to leave a minivan on its side should be greatly lessened—but not totally eliminated—with a planned storm sewer for the neighborhood, selectmen say.

Flooding on and near Intervale Road—about a block south of where Middlesex Road enters Stamford—should be greatly lessened with a larger storm sewer expected to be built in 2013.

"There's water going through our back yard when it rains, and it's going into our neighbor's yard, and it's coming from up the hill," Cindy Brown, a Devon Road, told the Board of Selectmen on Monday. She said many neighbors could say the same thing.

At a previous Board of Selectmen meeting, Brown said flooding had tilted a minivan sideways.

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"I'm asking you, please, proceed with this project," she said Monday.

Selectmen told her they would.

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Charles Judge of 24 Intervale Rd. said that when residents further uphill complained about flooding from the street, the town built curbs, which concentrated the problem further downhill. Another neighbor complained that some larger homes built uphill on Intervale Road should not have been permitted by the town because their size made the flooding worse.

Process

Town officials told residents of the neighborhood at Monday's Board of Selectmen meeting that the project would be a priority for selectmen in the 2013-1014 town capital budget. The new sewer should cost about $1.3 million, town Public Works Director Robert Seeger said.

About 90 percent of the design for the sewer is completed, Seeger said. When the design is ready, the town will go to the Planning & Zoning Commission for a permit to build the project.

The town will also need to get easements from two homeowners on Intervale Road, two more on Devon Road and from residents on Rose Lane, a private road, Seeger said. Town Attorney Wayne Fox will take care of getting the easements, First Selectman Jayme Stevenson said.

Bigger sewer

When complete, the sewer should be able to have 2.6 times the amount of stormwater flowing through it than the current sewer, which discharges into the nearby Noroton River at a point just off of Rose Lane, Seeger said.

One catch basin between Intervale Road and Devon Road will have four times the capacity of the one there now, Seeger said. Another catch basin in the plan will have four to six times the current capacity, and others will be double their present size, he said.

The storm drain is designed to be large enough that residents will be able to pump into it from their yards or basements when water builds up, Seeger said.

"Even a project of this magnitude will not solve the problem," Stevenson cautioned residents. "It won't be 100 percent fixed. People need to understand that."


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