Tuesday, July 20, 1999
Buyouts may solve flood woes
Banklick Creek options before Kenton oficials
BY CINDY SCHROEDER
The Cincinnati Enquirer
Saying a dam is probably too expensive, Kenton County Judge-executive Dick Murgatroyd said county officials will explore other options tonightfor preventing persistent flooding along Banklick Creek.
Kenton Fiscal Court meets at 7:30 p.m. at the courthouse in Independence.
“We're going to look at what's out there, and begin to develop what our options are,” Mr. Murgatroyd said. “This issue's been dangling out there for years and years, and we'd like to bring some kind of closure to it.”
While residents of the flooded area have pressed for construction of a Banklick dam, Mr. Murgatroyd said county officials will likely consider other alternatives — possibly buyouts — because of the cost.
In May, engineer Jim Berling estimated it would cost between $22 million and $25 million to build a dam to stop flooding along Banklick Creek.
“Everybody has told us that it's just so ungodly expensive to build a dam, and the issue's going to be, where do you come up with the money?” Mr. Murgatroyd said.
He said the county will check with the Army Corps of Engineers on possible options.
In the 1960s, four dams were proposed, but only one was built to address flooding problems in the area, Mr. Murgatroyd said. “I don't know that we could build those dams now, with all of the development that's occurred,” he said.
The judge-executive said one possible solution to the flooding problem may be to work with cities along the creek to obtain federal money to buy out homes affected by the flooding.
While affected homeowners would prefer that a dam be built, some realize that a buyout may be their only option, said Ed Monohan, a lawyer representing Banklick Creek residents who sued Kenton and Boone counties and 12 cities because of the flooding. “We've always known that some of our clients are in a situation where buyout is the only option, because the flooding is too severe where they're located,” he said.
A committee of residents who have been affected by the persistent flooding is “somewhat hopeful that the matter might be moving toward a conclusion,” Mr. Monohan said.
The lawsuit filed by the property owners, who live mostly along Ky. 17, was dismissed by a Kenton County judge earlier this year, but the group has appealed the case to the Kentucky Court of Appeals. In their suit, the residents claimed the counties and cities allowed development to occur, without providing for proper storm water retention and distribution.
“The cities and counties are collecting tax money from these new developments that they've approved, and we maintain that storm water control is part of the cost of managing these new developments,” Mr. Monohan said.
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