Yesterday, I wrote about the Aquatic Center. In order to really see
why people are a bit upset about that roughly $20,000,000.00
convenience, one needs to look at some of the areas that some consider
more of a necessity such as traffic, drainage, finances, etc.
You
can find links to the notes from the Town Council and Planning
Commission Meeting Minutes for quite a few such topics at one of the
myvaresources.com/blogs/depotdazed pages entitled "Christiansburg, VA
Issues. Some of these pages are complete and some are being developed
now.
- Aquatic
Center (Complete)
- Audit/Budget/Finance
(2001-2004) (Complete)
- Audit/Budget/Finance (2005-2009) (Complete)
- Drainage/Stormwater
(2001-2003) (Complete)
- Drainage/Stormwater (2003- 2006) (Complete)
- Drainage/Stormwater (2007- 2009) (Complete)
- Grants/Funding
(In progress)
- Growth
(complete)
- Historic
Preservation/Districts (in progress)
- Sidewalks (Complete)
- Taxes/Fees
- Traffic
(2001-2005) (complete)
- Traffic
(2006-2009) (complete)
From the review of those
Minutes, the Comprehensive Plan and the Town Code, it is clear that
problems have existed since 2001-2002 (I only went back that far in my
FOIA request), and yet some of the statement documented indicate the
problems existed before that time.
Sewage isn't listed here but it
will be because that is the one I am currently focused on and guess
what. Those problems have been around for quite a while as well.
I
think that a key reason why so many people are upset is because they do
not perceive the Aquatic Center quite as necessary to their daily
lives, health, safety, and well-being as issues with flooding, sewage
backing up into their homes, traffic congestion, the lack of sunshine
exhibited in previous budgets, sidewalks, and the tremendous rate of
growth that impact all of those previously noted.
As I said, it is
clear that citizens had problems in these areas since at least 2001.
While there is a lot of discussion noted in the Minutes, it tends toward
being primarily one way with citizens raising issues. Town Council
discusses the issues a bit and even express concerns without there being
any clear indication of how they plan on dealing with the problems that
new growth will generate.
Those times when issues were discussed
by Town Council, there is seldom anything to document what has been done
to correct the problem.
In the most recent Town Council meeting
it was noted that a citizen had come in complaining because sewage had
backed up into a home causing a good bit of damage. The Town's
insurance company refused to pay for the damages because there was no
negligence on the part of the Town. The Town had done an inspection and
found that a blockage in one of the Town's sewage lines is what caused
the backup into the person's home. The Town Manager advised something to
the effect that sometimes these things just happen, that all kinds of
stuff gets into the sewer system and can cause such things to happen ...
A discussion by Town Council occurred it appears the consensus is that
it is not the responsibility of the town. The Town and the Town's
insurance will only cover if negligence can be proven.
A word to
the wise here. Most homeowner policies do not cover such damage from
sewage UNLESS you happen to know to ask for a special policy that does
that. Now, I am going to have to spend some time asking around to find
out if this is true in other jurisdictions or if this is a function of
the type of insurance the Town chooses to carry. I have definitely heard
of other situations of this type where the jurisdiction's insurance
policy did cover such damage.
Since this type of blockage, caused
by so many different things (the Town Manager reported finding gears,
chunks of asphalt and other such items in the sewer line). Therefore,
there is no home in Christiansburg that is safe from this happening,
unless, of course, you are one of those people who is unknowingly paying
for sewer service but are actually still on the old septic tank like
one gentleman a couple of weeks ago found out. This type of blockage
could happen anywhere, including where it backs up into your home. If
you don't have the insurance coverage for such an event, you might want
to check into it since it also seems that if stormwater gets into the
sewer system and causes flooding into your home, that isn't covered
either.
At the end of the discussion, the Town Manager added that
they do have a camera device for inspection of sewer system. He even
suggested that it might be possible for him to get some of that video
tape and see if I would be willing to post it on my website.
Well,
the answer is YES! Of course I will, BUT....here's the only way I will
do it. I want to video tape the process of this being used so that
citizens see not just the inside of the pipes but the process used. I
have actually used such equipment myself in the past, it is not the most
glorious of jobs and those people doing the work deserve the same air
time as a robotic camera. So, Mr. Terpenny, if you can arrange this,
please let me know, camera and I will be waiting to get some good
footage of our town employees doing some of the dirty work that citizens
seldom get a chance to see. You can reach me at 382-6431 or just drop
by the Depot.
Wow...talk about a great way to celebrate SUNSHINE WEEK!!!! That would really be bringing in the light!