After a nearly two-hour public discussion earlier this week about Avondale Estates’ ongoing storm water issues, commissioners decided to look deeper into building a retention pond.
City flooding is a longtime problem, and in 2010 the engineering/planning firm Clark Patterson Lee did a road drainage study of the Kensington Road area. The firm concluded that Avondale’s storm water system, likely designed in the 1920s, doesn’t have adequate capacity to accommodate 25-year storms, much less more severe rainfall.
But CPL’s focus was on Kensington only. Other problem areas include at least portions of Clarendon Avenue and Hess Drive, a part of which is the only designated flood-plain area in the city.
“The retention pond is a crucial piece, probably the first step,” said Commissioner Randy Beebe. “You look at the [storm water system] overall, and it’s a big ol’ expensive elephant. The way you eat an elephant is one bite at a time.”
It was estimated six years ago the pond would cost $82,000, not counting land acquisition. It would probably be built somewhere south of Covington Highway and north of Kensington.
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