Mt. Pleasant Twp. property owner blames flooding on storm drain replacement delays

Shannon Pologruto frets when it rains.

She knows just a moderate storm, such as the cell that moved through the Mt. Pleasant Township area Tuesday night, will result in substantial flooding at the Diamond Street apartment building she owns with her husband.

“We had two feet of water around the apartment last night,” Pologruto said.

The cause, she said, is a stalled project to install nearly 400 feet of a stormwater drain that runs near Diamond Street in the township.

The flooding, according to township officials, has been ongoing for years and is a result of old and improper drains installed years ago by homeowners on private property. Damage to the nearby road has only exacerbated the flooding, township Supervisor Frank Puskar said.

The township last fall awarded a $160,000 contract to replace the stormwater drain from grant funds received from the state’s Department of Community and Economic Development. Construction started in February, but township officials quickly learned the grant money wouldn’t cover the entire cost of the project.

“After we went out to bid, the prices for pipe skyrocketed,” Puskar said.

After about 170 feet of drain pipe was installed, the work halted because of a lack of funds to finish the project. Township leaders this year secured another $120,000 in state funding to pay for the final 220 feet of the drain installation, including the section of road near Pologruto’s apartment building.

Supervisors in August awarded a second contact to have the project completed this year. Work could begin in November, Puskar said.

“I feel bad for her and her family, but I can only do so much,” Puskar said.

That timeline is not fast enough for Pologruto, who said, since May, she’s filed eight insurance claims for damage caused by flooding since this spring and had one tenant move because of the water issues.

She criticized supervisors for not dipping into township funds to pay to for quicker completion of the project and said the financial damages still are being calculated but are expected to be substantial.

“I lost good renters who lived there for almost two years. We took money out of our own pocket to help them move,” Pologruto said.