sa国际传媒官网网页入口

The city of sa国际传媒官网网页入口 is currently spending $6.5 million more from this year鈥檚 budget on a project that will not work. It began in 2021 with Bohannan Houston, Inc., the city鈥檚 on-call engineer, using approximately $10 million in GO bond money to plan the 鈥淧ueblo Alto/Mile Hi Green Stormwater Infrastructure Pilot Project.鈥�

During that planning, BHI subcontracted GeoTest a second time due to complaints about the results. On July 20, 2023, the second results were the same as the first time. GeoTest鈥檚 task was to identify the different layers of soil under the Mile Hi neighborhood for the purpose of collecting and infiltrating storm water. Their drilling found two clayey layers: at 5 and 7.5 feet below the Mile Hi neighborhood. Over time, the study states, clay layers like these will become almost completely impermeable, increasing the potential for underground lateral movement of captured storm water.

The danger of the six water collection bump outs on Summer and another one on La Veta NE, currently under construction, could be to force stormwater laterally and undermine the houses on both sides of the streets themselves. In short, over time, this extraordinarily expensive and misplaced Green Stormwater Infrastructure system will clog up and fail completely, producing the opposite results.

The Storm Water Utility Ordinance, coming before the City Council on June 1, is an example of a huge conflict between good science and political actors with their thumb on the scale.

The only thing that needed correction in Mile Hi was improved maintenance of existing storm drains and some regrading of two small sections of street, including Summer, within our neighborhood boundaries to improve the on-street drainage.

There was plenty of money to do further study. Since the city didn鈥檛, the danger remains, especially if we do start to get serious rains. But, the project was pushed forward by politics, not science.

Our neighbors have photographed the entirety of their property, inside and out. They will pay close attention to walls and foundations. If the lateral movement of stormwater and/or construction vibration from jack hammers, skip loaders, back hoes, ground compactors and dumpster trucks at their front door does cause damage, they will have the documentation to file a tort claim. These are only the structural damages. Then there are the psychological impacts of enduring six months with constant noise, vibration, dust, migration of cockroaches and disturbed lives which, at times, makes life almost unlivable. We have asked each member of the City Council, 鈥淎re you prepared to compensate residents for damages caused by a plan that is wrong from the beginning?鈥�

These concerns don鈥檛 even address the complete failure of the project to actually be 鈥済reen.鈥� The amount of the carbon footprint by the city鈥檚 removal and replacement of cement sidewalks/driveways and asphalt streets is huge.

It is appalling that the council is considering passage of a city-wide ordinance binding future councils to include funds for this GSI boondoggle, without benefit of a full environmental study. Money for this ordinance would come, you guessed it, from the taxes on your water bill every month. This is a remarkable abuse of taxpayer money as most places in the city, like Mile Hi, are not suitable for these stormwater treatments.

This ordinance will be extraordinarily expensive, destructive and simply will not work.

Isaac and Sharon Eastvold founded the Fair Heights Neighborhood Association, now called Mile Hi. They worked to create Petroglyph National Monument in 1990 through The Friends of the sa国际传媒官网网页入口 Petroglyphs.