City awaiting direction on how to proceed with pipe extended at creek
This and other pipes extending out of a creek bank near the city’s wastewater treatment facility have become an issue that the city is awaiting guidance to address. The pipes were installed as part of a creek stabilization project which was expected to extend further on the bank, but the permit from the Corps of Engineers prevented the full bank from being stabilized.
City Clerk Lisa Goodnight said she spoke with a representative from Toth & Associates, the city’s engineer on record, about pipes that are sticking out of the nearby creek bank. The engineer asked if there will be money left over in a grant being used to rebuild the city’s wastewater treatment facility. If so, he wondered if the funds can be used to address the pipes.
Goodnight said when workers began a creek bank stabilization project, also funded by a grant, it took a year for the Corps of Engineers to approve their permit - and it was for less creek bank than they were anticipating. “They had originally intended for that [stabilization project] to go much farther [down the creek bank]. They only approved it to go so far. So, here we are,” she said. Goodnight said additional grants may be available for addressing the pipe, but she fears with the year-long process for a permit, it won’t be logistically possible to wait. The engineering firm representative offered to contact the Corps and DNR with photos of the pipes and ask what can be done. The council agreed to let the engineer make the contacts for a possible solution. He believed the pipe may be able to be cut off, but he is unsure without checking with the agencies first.