Some residents left last week’s Arnold City Council work session dismayed by what the city can and cannot do to repair a broken pipe that caused the collapse of a portion of yard behind a quadplex in the Woodridge Estates subdivision.
The special work session was held Sept. 26 so city officials could explain the situation and take questions from residents who live in the neighborhood off Tenbrook Road.
City Administrator Bryan Richison told the crowd of approximately 50 people that a steel stormwater pipe installed in the 1980s rusted out, causing the hole to form in the yard in the 800 block of Woodridge Drive.
He said the pipe is located in a stormwater easement, but that easement is not dedicated to the city nor has the city accepted it.
Richison also said the Missouri Constitution prohibits cities from spending public money for private purposes.
While there is no estimate for the cost to repair the pipe, Richison said City Attorney Bob Sweeney has advised the City Council that Arnold could pay for the repairs upfront, as long as the subdivision residents agree to pay the city back.
He said the city would be allowed to cover those upfront costs because the hole could damage public utilities in the area.
Richison said the city must recoup the costs, though, with each of the 119 homeowners paying an equal portion of the repair costs.
City officials said every Woodridge Estates subdivision homeowner would have to sign the agreement before Arnold would pay the upfront cost of the repair.
The city already has agreed to pay Civil Design Inc. of St. Louis up to $51,482 for civil engineering services and a design to repair the pipe. Richison initially authorized the contract with Civil Design as an emergency expenditure, and City Council members voted unanimously on Sept. 5 to approve the contract.
Initially, the city expected the homeowners to reimburse the city for the cost of the engineering services, but Sweeney said the council may decide against passing that cost on to the homeowners.
“The engineering may have been done to protect the city,” he said during the Sept. 26 meeting. “We haven’t looked at that yet. That is not an issue for tonight. It is extremely likely no one will be billed for that.”
Bonnie Smith, who lives in the quadplex in front of the hole said she was disappointed with what she heard at the meeting.
“I understand the law, but the city has to do something to help us. We don’t have the money to do this. I was hoping they (city officials) were going to tell us they researched and found a grant out there that would help us. I just want there to be a solution so we can move on with this.”
Joanne Kreup, who lives in the subdivision, was even more disenchanted with the city’s proposal.
“Would you sign a paper and then find out how much it cost? No way,” she said. “If we don’t sign, they are not going to do anything.”
Mayor Ron Counts told the residents that the city would not force anyone to sign the agreement. He also stressed Arnold could not pay the upfront costs without all homeowners agreeing to split the cost amongst themselves and repay the city after the repair project is completed.
“If you say, ‘I don’t believe in this, I don’t think it is right,’ then don’t sign it,” Counts said. “The city backs off.”
Counts also said city staff members are reaching out to multiple government entities and private organizations to see if grants are available to help repair the pipe.
“We are doing everything we possibly can to come up with a solution on this thing,” he said. “We are doing the best we can with it.”
The hole developed after heavy rains on July 16 caused flash flooding in the area.
Pam Manning, who lives in the subdivision, told the Leader the hole was approximately 30 feet long and 20 feet wide after the portion of the yard initially sunk.
Smith said the hole has expanded since then.
“It has gotten worse,” she said. “There is another tree down. This tree is inside the police line (put up around the hole) on a fence. A huge part of the hole broke off and went down in. The fence is going deeper into the hole.
“(The hole) is probably another 2 feet wide. I don’t know if it is any deeper.”
Ward 3 Councilman Mark Hood, whose ward includes Woodridge Estates, said he believes if the city could fix the problem without billing the residents it would, adding that he is glad city staff members reexamined the situation to find a way to provide some help to fix the problem
“We could have walked away initially and said, ‘It is not our property; there is nothing we can do about it,’” he said. “We looked into it because we wanted to find a way to help. This (billing the subdivision residents) is the only way we can do it legally.”
Ward 3 Councilman Rodney Mullins said the situation is unfortunate for everyone involved.
“Based on what we know about the law and how we have been educated, there really are not a whole lot of options right now,” he said.
Holly Drago, a subdivision resident, said she, too, was disappointed by the meeting.
“They did not do what they said they would do,” she said. “They said they were going to answer all of our questions and everything would be OK. Obviously, it is not OK.”