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| Willows south of my house standing in water March 2020. |
Susie,
Wollenberg, Hosch, Knepper and I met with Eric Schmeckel, DBQ County Soil & Water Conservation liasonThursday at 11 a.m. & came to
the conclusion that he would:
a) Pull
the permits of Custom Precast and Knuth Farms (both in the county) and
check to see that they align with the county drainage requirements. With the
snow on the ground it is hard to see what mitigation measures may have been
taken.
b) As
intended, we surveyed the area and he seemed taken aback at the condition of
the stream that runs behind Cascade Manufacturing, the Legion et. al. Not
surprised either the water doesn't make it to the North Fork , but
spills out into Staner's field and up onto my and other East side properties.
In fact, it roars through there with such velocity that it tearing the trees
off the bank, which he observed--something I hadn't noticed, when I walked it
in spring & summer. Having a look with snow on the ground is also
useful.
c) I
agreed to contact the Cascade City Administrator and have a meeting
with Schmeckel, the council, and possibly one of the Dubuque County
Supervisors, because according to Schmeckel they are becoming increasingly
concerned about these drainage issues, as well. Please set up a meeting so we can
discuss these issues.
d) I had
put McDermott's farm on the issues list, because I was under the impression
that Iowa law prevented a CAFO as close to a town as John McDermott's farm (He
has 3!). Schmeckel said that fell under the DNR jurisdiction, contact
Manchester, which I will do.
e) Mr. Schmeckel insists that what is required is a comprehensive drainage plan for Cascade, which must be written, passed into ordinance and followed.
Pursuant to b) above, if you/council/mayor/property owners or any interested party wants to meet, I am willing to do so. However, I think the City of Cascade, really needs to get its house in order vis-a-vis its own drainage ordinances. McAllister Electric, the business next to it and MACC Storage have not a single blade of grass, green space or other mitigation between them. Likewise, between 1st and 2nd Ave. Cascade Lumber and the old Pioneer Office the length of that street up to the Bent Rim is nothing but hard surface on the east and gravel on the west, which Schmeckel agreed in the meeting today was 90-100% impermeable.
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| A drainage nightmare--the street south of the Bent rim |
I have taken pix and I am sending you one just down from the Bent Rim. On the other side of the street, Cascade Lumber has covered so much area with gravel and constantly driven loaded semis on it that it is tantamount to cement. The water is running off the back of it with such velocity it is dragging the rip-rap and fence right down into the stream. The city needs to address these violations of its own code. There are some good citizens out there--Eastern Iowa Excavating, American Iowa Manufacturing and Webber Metals appear to have a decent ratio of grass to impervious surface. I am unsure about McDermott Oil and some of the others. I will walk/bike it all again in spring and report again.
