MNeagle
10th August 2010, 06:54 PM
http://stmedia.startribune.com/images/502*376/1WHISTLE0808.jpg
Don Radzak, 89, of Brooklyn Park stands near the weedy pond that used to be the pride of the Glen Echo development.
Buying waterfront land? Be sure
Don Radzak learned the hard way that a pond's water doesn't belong to the neighborhood's residents.
A year after he moved to Brooklyn Park, Don Radzak wanted to make sure the picturesque little pond outside his townhouse stayed wet.
So Radzak and a neighbor stacked four sandbags in a culvert, raising the water level a few feet. For the next 11 years, Radzak says, the Glen Echo development had a sparkling water feature frequented by ducks and egrets.
Then some residents around another pond just downstream complained that Glen Echo was hogging the water. Last fall, the city of Brooklyn Park removed the sandbags and other obstructions. By this spring, weeds were springing up where the Glen Echo pond had receded and clumps of algae had broken out on the rest.
Radzak and his supporters learned the hard way that even though the pond is on Glen Echo property, the water doesn't belong to them. Instead, it's part of a network of 250 ponds and 200 miles of sewers maintained by the city of Brooklyn Park to keep water clean and prevent flooding.
Kevin Larson, Brooklyn Park's city engineer, admits that the little dam didn't seem to cause any trouble. Still, he said, the city can't let residents monkey with the system for their own needs.
"If we allow people to start doing that, then the whole system ... what are we doing to that? Does this get out of control?" Larson said.
But the city acknowledges that by solving one problem, it has created another.
"You don't even see a turtle pop its head up," Radzak, 89, said last week, pointing his cane at the shrunken pond. "It's terrible, just terrible."
Brooklyn Park Mayor Steve Lampi has tried to moderate the water squabble. Lampi said it's not the only time residents have been surprised to find out the truth about their neighborhood pond, which is often featured prominently in real estate listings.
"Sometimes the [real estate] agent will allude to the fact that water is going to be there forever," Lampi said. "When it's part of a stormwater management system, there's no guarantee of that."
Indeed, other stormwater ponds not far from Glen Echo resemble a lumpy basin of weeds, with no water visible at all. From the perspective of city stormwater engineers, that's not a sign of trouble.
Developers in many jurisdictions are required to build ponds to allow sediment to settle out and to catch runoff from roofs and driveways. They're not built for swimming, boating or even beauty, according to Jim Hafner, Blaine's stormwater manager and chairman of the Minnesota Cities Stormwater Coalition.
Radzak's townhouse, which he bought in 1997, backs up to a broad lawn that ends at the pond. The association keeps the grass mowed up to the banks. Radzak never thought that putting out the sandbags to hold back more water would cause any harm.
When they saw the city workers removing the sandbags and a tree last fall, residents of Glen Echo immediately suspected the folks across Edinbrook Parkway, where Glen Echo's pond drains into a much larger impoundment. Larson, the city engineer, said the amount of water being trapped in the little triangular Glen Echo pond wouldn't make much of a difference to the neighboring pond.
Nevertheless, Larson admitted, neighbors across the road who met with him earlier this year were "pretty wound up" about the idea of Glen Echo's taking their water. Radzak and others at Glen Echo feel the same way about those downstream. "They're stealing our water," he said.
Knowing the intensity of emotions about the pond, Lampi came to Glen Echo's National Night Out celebration wondering whether he would be welcome. He said the city plans to dredge Glen Echo's pond this fall, although Larson said that the city hasn't made a decision on that yet.
"I wouldn't tell you that everybody's 100 percent happy," Lampi said. "Most people have accepted that as a good compromise."
Rose Mary Thielman is one who's dubious that the dredging will solve the problem. She said she paid extra five years ago to get a townhouse next to the pond.
"That's our pond, we thought," she said.
James Eli Shiffer • whistleblower@startribune.com
http://stmedia.startribune.com/images/208*147/11whistle0808.jpg
The Glen Echo pond as it looked until last year.
http://stmedia.startribune.com/images/208*137/12WHISTLE0808.jpg
The Glen Echo pond after the city of Brooklyn Park's drainage work
http://www.startribune.com/investigators/100156009.html?elr=KArks:DCiU6:5DiaPQEacyiUiD3aPc: _Yyc:aULPQL7PQLanchO7DiUs
Don Radzak, 89, of Brooklyn Park stands near the weedy pond that used to be the pride of the Glen Echo development.
Buying waterfront land? Be sure
Don Radzak learned the hard way that a pond's water doesn't belong to the neighborhood's residents.
A year after he moved to Brooklyn Park, Don Radzak wanted to make sure the picturesque little pond outside his townhouse stayed wet.
So Radzak and a neighbor stacked four sandbags in a culvert, raising the water level a few feet. For the next 11 years, Radzak says, the Glen Echo development had a sparkling water feature frequented by ducks and egrets.
Then some residents around another pond just downstream complained that Glen Echo was hogging the water. Last fall, the city of Brooklyn Park removed the sandbags and other obstructions. By this spring, weeds were springing up where the Glen Echo pond had receded and clumps of algae had broken out on the rest.
Radzak and his supporters learned the hard way that even though the pond is on Glen Echo property, the water doesn't belong to them. Instead, it's part of a network of 250 ponds and 200 miles of sewers maintained by the city of Brooklyn Park to keep water clean and prevent flooding.
Kevin Larson, Brooklyn Park's city engineer, admits that the little dam didn't seem to cause any trouble. Still, he said, the city can't let residents monkey with the system for their own needs.
"If we allow people to start doing that, then the whole system ... what are we doing to that? Does this get out of control?" Larson said.
But the city acknowledges that by solving one problem, it has created another.
"You don't even see a turtle pop its head up," Radzak, 89, said last week, pointing his cane at the shrunken pond. "It's terrible, just terrible."
Brooklyn Park Mayor Steve Lampi has tried to moderate the water squabble. Lampi said it's not the only time residents have been surprised to find out the truth about their neighborhood pond, which is often featured prominently in real estate listings.
"Sometimes the [real estate] agent will allude to the fact that water is going to be there forever," Lampi said. "When it's part of a stormwater management system, there's no guarantee of that."
Indeed, other stormwater ponds not far from Glen Echo resemble a lumpy basin of weeds, with no water visible at all. From the perspective of city stormwater engineers, that's not a sign of trouble.
Developers in many jurisdictions are required to build ponds to allow sediment to settle out and to catch runoff from roofs and driveways. They're not built for swimming, boating or even beauty, according to Jim Hafner, Blaine's stormwater manager and chairman of the Minnesota Cities Stormwater Coalition.
Radzak's townhouse, which he bought in 1997, backs up to a broad lawn that ends at the pond. The association keeps the grass mowed up to the banks. Radzak never thought that putting out the sandbags to hold back more water would cause any harm.
When they saw the city workers removing the sandbags and a tree last fall, residents of Glen Echo immediately suspected the folks across Edinbrook Parkway, where Glen Echo's pond drains into a much larger impoundment. Larson, the city engineer, said the amount of water being trapped in the little triangular Glen Echo pond wouldn't make much of a difference to the neighboring pond.
Nevertheless, Larson admitted, neighbors across the road who met with him earlier this year were "pretty wound up" about the idea of Glen Echo's taking their water. Radzak and others at Glen Echo feel the same way about those downstream. "They're stealing our water," he said.
Knowing the intensity of emotions about the pond, Lampi came to Glen Echo's National Night Out celebration wondering whether he would be welcome. He said the city plans to dredge Glen Echo's pond this fall, although Larson said that the city hasn't made a decision on that yet.
"I wouldn't tell you that everybody's 100 percent happy," Lampi said. "Most people have accepted that as a good compromise."
Rose Mary Thielman is one who's dubious that the dredging will solve the problem. She said she paid extra five years ago to get a townhouse next to the pond.
"That's our pond, we thought," she said.
James Eli Shiffer • whistleblower@startribune.com
http://stmedia.startribune.com/images/208*147/11whistle0808.jpg
The Glen Echo pond as it looked until last year.
http://stmedia.startribune.com/images/208*137/12WHISTLE0808.jpg
The Glen Echo pond after the city of Brooklyn Park's drainage work
http://www.startribune.com/investigators/100156009.html?elr=KArks:DCiU6:5DiaPQEacyiUiD3aPc: _Yyc:aULPQL7PQLanchO7DiUs