Residents, Council Talk Flooding and Sewer Issues

Residents who had their basements flooded with raw sewage after the of Feb. 28 showed up at a of Avon's legal and services committess of City Council on Monday night.

About 40 people affected by the flooding attended.

Avon mayor , who had flooding of water in his own basement, said some of the key issues are dealing with residential development of land that is designated to use the French Creek Interceptor, builders who do not properly install check valves in homes, and how Avon deals with its sewage.

Residents of the Stonebridge, North Doovys and Windmill Village neighborhoods spoke at the meeting. Some were worried about this happening again. Some are still reeling from the financial wallop this is, even for those who have insurance. One Windmill Village resident who got raw sewage in her basement said she now wakes up at night to go check her basement, and rain forecast for this week worries her.

City engineer Robert Knopf has put together a survey for residents to fill out and send in to him. The survey, he said, is to help get a clear picture as to where homes flooded, if streets were flooded as well, where flooding was isolated and where it was more widespread. A PDF version of this survey is with this story. You can click on it, print it out, and either drop it off at or mail it to Knopf at the city's , 35030 Detroit Road.

The common theme of the meeting was preventing this from happening again. It's going to be a long process, Smith said, involving many factors from sanitary sewer to building codes.

"I'd rather make a developer mad than a resident," he said.