HomeMy Public PortalAboutR1620 R E S O L U T I O N NO. 1620
WHEREAS, the U. S. Army Corps of Engineers, St. Louis
District, has designed and ready for construction a pilot flood
control program for the Maline Creek watershed of St. Louis
County; and
WHEREAS, the national Board of Engineers for Rivers and
Harbors of the Corps in September, 1981, made a preliminary
recommendation that it is not convinced that construction of the
proposed project is advisable at this time because the plan "would
only provide protection to most areas from floods having an
average return frequency of 10 years or less"; and
WHEREAS, the program as proposed actually would
alleviate an annual $4 million or more in flood damages in the
Maline Creek watershed, and eliminate severe erosion that can
threaten the collapse of homes; and
WHEREAS, the St, Louis District Corps has invested 16
years of study, planning and work and approximately $3 million in
costs into this project, in coordination with The Metropolitan St.
Louis Sewer District, which would be lost if this project is now
abandoned; and
WHEREAS, loss of this project can affect not only the
Maline Creek watershed, but all major watersheds in St. Louis
County, inasmuch as the long-range anticipation is that its
completion can serve as the precedent-setting first in a series of
Corps-supported flood control programs in other critical
watersheds within St. Louis County; and
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WHEREAS, The Metropolitan St, Louis Sewer District has
worked closely with the St. Louis District Corps in this matter
with the assurance and confidence that the project would be
implemented, and therefore has committed its planning and funding
to a full program of flood control improvements along the
tributaries of the Maline Creek main channel as its part of the
overall program; and
WHEREAS, abandonment of this project by the national
Corps will disrupt entirely The Metropolitan St. Louis Sewer
District's long-range planning and funding for flood control
programs in St. Louis County, nullify many years of work, planning
and expenditures by the District, and confront the District with
having to start over with sole responsibility for a flood control
task that is far beyond the limits of local funding, if not
capability; and
WHEREAS, U. S. Representative Robert A. Young has
worked diligently for many years to forward this project, with the
enthusiastic support of Senators John Danforth and Thomas
Eagleton, and U. S. Representative Harold Volkmer and their
constituents throughout St. Louis County; and
WHEREAS, the Board of Engineers for Rivers and Harbors
of the Corps has allowed until October 20, 1981, to hear final
arguments on behalf of the project from interested persons before
making its final recommendation;
NOW, THEREFORE, BE IT RESOLVED BY THE BOARD OF TRUSTEES
OF THE METROPOLITAN ST, LOUIS SEWER DISTRICT:
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The Board herewith emphasizes the imperative need for
the Maline Creek flood control program and its vast benefits in
freedom from flood discomfort and damages, severe erosion that
dissipates people's property and threatens their very homes, and
the fact that the project as designed will last for 100 years and
provide virtually 100 percent protection against rains of whatever
severity;
BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED that the Board herewith urges
the Board of Engineers for Rivers and Harbors of the U. S. Army
Corps of Engineers to give a final recommendation of approval for
immediate construction of the Maline Creek flood control program
and that a copy of this Resolution be forwarded at once to that
Board. The foregoing Resolution was adopted October 14, 1981.