photo by: Journal-World Photo Illustration

Lawrence Journal-World Editorial

City commissioners are right to take the time necessary to develop the right plan for dealing with a stormwater tunnel running underneath some homes in Old West Lawrence.

In 1911, the city built a 6-by-6 foot arched brick drainage tunnel in a ravine that ran from Mt. Oread through Old West Lawrence to the Kansas River. The ravine was then filled with dirt and eventually, homes were built on top.

The city reports that the tunnel is the primary storm sewer for the Jayhawk Watershed, which stretches from Jayhawk Boulevard to the Kansas River. Residents in the area note that the old tunnel often can’t handle heavy rains, resulting in flash flooding of intersections and some homes in Old West Lawrence, specifically areas near the intersection of Eighth and Ohio streets.

Typically, city utilities are built along city streets, alleys or other rights-of-way. But when the tunnel was built, no easements were recorded. The city used cameras to re-plot the stormwater tunnel and discovered that it cuts through 14 private properties in the Oread and Old West Lawrence neighborhoods, and runs underneath as many as seven structures, including a property at 812 Ohio St., owned by Sarah Merriman and Donna Geisler.

Nothing in the title or deed to the house indicated the tunnel was there when Merriman and Geisler bought it. Only when they began making preparations to build on the property did they discover that the tunnel ran underneath the house, just 3.5 feet below the surface.

“It was pretty upsetting, honestly,” Merriman said. “We bought the property to improve it and build a house, and then you start realizing that this is a pretty big deal.”

Matt Bond, a stormwater engineer with the city, told city commissioners the best option is also the most expensive one — rerouting the storm sewer. Estimates are that the cost of rerouting the entire storm sewer system would be more than $5 million. Rerouting the system only in the area of Eighth and Ohio streets would be about $1 million.

Bond recommended moving the project up on the city’s list of priorities.

Vice Mayor Lisa Larsen said she wanted to wait on the project because she thinks it needs to be considered comprehensively, in the context of the entire Jayhawk Watershed and the new buildings going up at the University of Kansas.

Commissioners asked that the project be considered next summer, as part of the budget process for 2020.

“If we don’t look at that as part of this whole project, we’re just basically not spending money correctly, I don’t think,” Larsen said. “So I don’t want to rush into forcing an engineering design, I think we need to look at it comprehensively.”

Larsen is right. The stormwater tunnel is a problem that was 100 years in the making, and it can’t be fixed with a Band-Aid approach. The city needs to take the time to develop a strategy that will ensure proper drainage for the next 100 years and then make implementing that strategy a priority.