Politics & Government
Greenfield Neighborhood to Receive Drainage Fix it Wanted
West Brookside Drive will receive new concrete pipe and not a swale.
There will be no swale put in on West Brookside Drive.
After many lengthy discussions over the last few weeks, including another 30-minute debate at Tuesday’s Common Council meeting, the council voted, 3-2, in favor of by replacing eroded and damaged corrugated metal pipe with concrete piping.
Residents have been against the swale for many reasons, including its aesthetic appeal, possible safety hazards it could create once it fills with water and questions whether or not it will even work because of the large amount of water that flows down the street.
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Director of Neighborhood Services Richard Sokol described the swale as the best management practice, but believes the concrete pipe would alleviate the problem as well and last up to 50 years.
Sokol’s new proposal Tuesday was to reuse or connect the existing corrugated metal pipe with new metal pipe, but some council members wanted a more permanent fix of concrete pipe installed at an additional cost of approximately $95,000.
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The council voted that the cost of the project not exceed $360,000.
“I hate coming back and patching in pipes after we just patched in pipe,” Alderperson Karl Kastner said. “I don’t want to let it go any longer. … We can do it right with concrete, get it done and be out of there and not have the engineers have to come in again in a year.”
The council’s vote amended an agreement with contractor D.F. Tomasini. The original contract was for approximately $324,000, $75,000 of which was to be covered by a Milwaukee Metropolitan Sewerage District grant given for the water flowing/cleansing aspect of the swale. The grant will no longer be available for this project.
“There’s a whole city out here that has water issues,” said Alderperson Thomas Pietrowski, who, along with Linda Lubotsky, voted against the amended contract. “We have to look at this from the money side of it. If (the swale) is the best management practice, that’s the project I’m going to support.”
Replacing the damaged pipe with more metal pipe and reusing pipe already there would have come with a price tag of approximately $266,000, according to Sokol.
“We’ve identified an opportunity to use what’s there now and have that existing pipe fail whenever it fails and have to go back in and fix it again,” Sokol said, “or make an investment today and hopefully not come back for 50 years.”
In other business, the Common Council voted 4-1 to decline a special use request by Avis Rent a Car to have a vehicle rental service within the Sears Auto Center, 5200 S. 76th St.
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