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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 2 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: 3 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.