Please click on images to ENLARGE. Scroll down to see recent FEMA map after 30 acres was cleared for Aspen Ridge project where proposed HIl Place project would appear. Scroll further to see photos of the area before wetland overflow area east of the Town Branch was cleared and filled with non-absorbent material. The word TOWN on the USGS map appears on the part of the stream running between South Ellis Avenue and South Van Buren Avenue.
Strangely, Austin doesn't blame the university for building in that part of the watershed and eliminating any chance of water soaking up there. Is he afraid his engineering degree would be nullified? Anyway, Sullins' house and others downstream on the Town Branch between Ellis and Van Buren streets were built long before the bulk of athletic facilities forced the water into pipes and speeded its flow to Sixth Street, Eleventh Street and Fifteenth Street. Mostly, the houses were built on higher ground, but "the end result" apparently wasn't "completely predictable" to everyone who bought a lot and built a house 50 or more years ago.
If anyone was able to predict the flooding and had the responsibility to prevent it, it would have to have been the engineers planning projects on the campus. Now Austin Rowser has the ability to predict what will happen if his project doesn't retain a lot more water on site than current plans suggest.
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Strangely, I don't actually disagree with most of what you say here. The bulk of the problem is from the University. Agreed. That, however, was not my motivation for writing my letter. Semantics on the stream name; the USGS disagrees with you, but we all know which piece of stream is in question. I haven't seen the engineering that went into the property upstream, so I can't speak as to whether or not it met the project goals. As you are most likely aware, the University does not have to comply with City of Fayetteville ordinances regarding detention and stormwater management. As such, I would assume there was little thought put into such matters during the design, however, as I stated earlier, I haven't looked at it, so I don't know. What astonishes me is that somehow you claim to know how much water our current plans suggest we retain and that this is somehow insufficient. Please provide your engineering to justify the claim. And they called me arrogant; at least I don't purport to be an expert at something I have absolutely no technical knowledge of.
Hey Aubrey, I looked at the pictures, and it looks like the Sullins house is in good shape - nicely elevated above the flood. Check out how the foundation of that house was built up to keep the first floor elevated. Nice work, Sullins. So, what was your point with those pictures? They appear to have proven my point.
Shepherd's photos show two different houses. The Sullins brothers are next door to each other. The one on the north is farther from the branch and built on higher ground. The one on the south is lower and nearer the branch and the water was up near the foundation Neither house has two stories.
He needs to figure out how to make better night photos.
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