Gibbs Station 1-CS 921230MEMO
To:
Via:
From:
RE:
Date:
Alan D. Ratliff, City Manager
Ken Griffin, City Engineer ~
Michael A. Martin, Graduate Engineer '/907'r]
Investigation in Response to Letter from John Burns
December 30, 1992
In response to the attached letter regarding the run-off problem on Mr. John Burns' property,
Garreth Campbell and I investigated the situation and the following conclusions have been made.
Mr. Burns' property is adjacent to the northern section of the Gibbs Station Phase I subdivision
at the intersection of Warren Crossing and Beverly Drive. At this location a concrete drive
return was constructed to allow both Mr. Burns and his neighbor, Mr. Elvin Ray Warren, access
to their property.
When the Gibbs Station construction plans were approved by the Engineering Department, the
paving plans showed the pavement sloping away from Mr. Burns' property, therefore not
allowing water to drain onto his property. When Mr. Burns and Mr. Warren agreed to share
the same driveway, they discovered that the driveway would contain a hump due to the pavement
sloping away from the proposed driveway location. They decided to have the hump removed
by sloping the pavement toward the driveway, thereby allowing water to enter onto Mr. Burns'
property. This being the case, Engineering requested that an easement be obtained with both
property owners' signatures stating that they agree to share the same driveway and they agree
to allow surface drainage of water over the easement area.
When I contacted Mr. Bill Anderson who is the consulting engineer from Dan M. Dowdey &
Associates for the Gibbs Station project, he reminded rrie that Mr. Burns and Mr. Warren signed
a Mutual Aec, ess and Drainage Easement which "assigns a non-exclusive easement over and
across the Easement Area, i.e., driveway, for ingress, egress and to allow for the flow and
drainage of water over the surface thereof". Attached is a copy of the agreement for your
The reason the agreement is mentioned is to inform you that Mr. Burns consented to permit
"surface drainage over and across the Easement Area", therefore allowing water to cross onto
his property.
I asked Mr. Anderson to investigate the situation on Monday, December 28, 1992 and to report
back to me by the end of the week to let me know what has been proposed to correct the
problem. The following day, Craig Knight, one of the developers of Gibbs Station, stopped by
City Hall and told me he met with Mr. Burns and that they had agreed upon a solution. Mr.
Knight said that 3 to 4 inches of asphalt overlay would be placed on private property over the
gravel drive to raise the drive. This would force the water to the edge of the drive instead of
down the middle of the drive and would prevent the washout of the existing drive.
Mr. Knight told me that the premise for Mr. Bums' concern about water entering his property
was due to an incident that occurred last week. When the water utility contractor was cleaning
out the lines he opened the fire hydrant located diagonally across from Mr. Bums' driveway,
therefore forcing water to drain onto his property. Since this incident of flushing the fire
hydrant is expected to occur in the future by both the Water Utilities and Fire Department for
maintenance and testing, Engineering has requested that the departments take necessary
precautions to prevent excessive water from entering Mr. Bums' property via the driveway.
One such precaution could be to attach a hose to the hydrant and have the hose mn towards the
nearest inlet.
I will continue to keep you informed about this problem until it is resolved. If there are any
other problems, Mr. Knight informed me that he would be more than happy to comply to any
reasonable solution.