Shirley Balis, owner of a self-storage facility in Edgerton, Wis., is battling the city over flooding on her property from a drainage pipe owned by the municipality. The storage business has operated since 1984 but began experiencing water-overflow issues in 2005 after a retention pond was built for a nearby housing development. Flooding at the storage site has intensified as more houses have been constructed. “We don’t want [the business] destroyed by some stupid pipe,” Balis told the source.
Following rain storms this past summer, overflow from the pond was particularly bad, causing damage at the storage property, including $5,000 to the parking lot, according to Balis. “It's been one issue after another,” she said. “We got probably five inches, all within a matter of an hour. Everything was under water.”
The city claims that, according to its mapping, water has been pooling near the self-storage facility since long before the drainage pipe was installed. Officials want to dig a ditch so water will flow more directly into a culvert connected to the Edgerton water system. “We have attempted to negotiate an access easement from the land owner in order to create the best ditch we can, but we have been denied that ability,” Ramona Flanigan, city administrator, told the source.
Balis is insisting the pipe and pond be removed, the source reported.
Sources:
- Channel 3000: Edgerton Business Owner Says City Drain Damaged Property
