Lakeshore residents’ concerns in Clarksville remain a year after flooding

July 18--CLARKSVILLE -- A year after raw sewage flooded two homes and several common spaces at a Clarksville condominium, homeowners are still dealing with the aftermath and concerns of recurrence remain.

On June 26, 2015, overflow from pump station no. 20 on Newman Avenue in Clarksville caused sewage to back up into two lower-floor homes, the maintenance building and pool at adjacent Lakeshore Condominium, a complex with 72 homeowners.

This left two homeowners, Mary Frey and Liz Nichols, unable to use their homes for extended periods of time and caused them to dig into their personal finances to help with repair and cleanup.

Though the town's insurance company deemed the incident an "Act of God," some homeowners believe that it occurred as a result of faulty installation of the pump; a new one had been installed shortly before the incident.

Mary Ann Crabtree, president of the board of managers of the Lakeshore Homeowners' Association, has approached the Clarksville Town Council on seven occasions during the past year, asking what has been done to ensure that there will not be a recurrence of the backup, and seeking monetary restitution to the two owners who were displaced and incurred personal cost as a result.

"On the anniversary of this overflow and the ensuing losses and upheaval suffered, the 72 owners of Lakeshore have not forgotten," she said at the July 5 council meeting. "The owners look to you, our elected officials, to provide the basic service -- service without the fear of an additional loss with every peal of thunder and rain shower."

Crabtree said that the Lakeshore Association has been asked by its master insurance policy carrier to show what steps had been taken to prevent a recurrence of the June 26, 2015 overflow. She said she has three times requested in writing an answer to the question from the town with no response.

PENDING LAWSUIT

Town attorney Chris Sturgeon has advised the council members to refrain from speaking on the matter, as it is in pending litigation. Last August, Frey opened a case against the town. In court documents dated Aug. 21, Frey, through her attorney, Steve Voelker, cites that "The Town of Clarksville, Indiana was negligent in the design and maintenance of its sewage system...[and was] negligent in failing to warn Frey of the potential risk of flooding."

The lawsuit states that Frey is seeking "A declaration of the rights of each of the parties and money damages in a sum sufficient to reimburse her for her damages, interests and costs." It further states that the town has taken her condominium by inverse condemnation.

An amended complaint from February 2016 includes HDR Engineering as a second defendant in the suit, as the town said this firm was responsible for the design criteria of the station.

In response to Frey's second amended complaint, the town acknowledges Frey's address at Lakeshore is lower in elevation than the pump station and that the town maintains a sewage pump approximately 150 feet from her home, according to court documents.

The response denies Frey's assertion that an overflow system that allowed drainage flow was eliminated in the new pump station or that the town was negligent in the design or maintenance of the system. The response denies that Frey's home has been taken by inverse condemnation or that it has been devalued as a result of town negligence.

The town's reply further states that the plaintiff may have been "contributorily negligent, and that the incident was an "Act of God." It states that the town "complied with all statutory, regulatory and administrative obligations with regard to the wastewater treatment plant and therefore, breached no duty owed to the plaintiff."

The case is now in mediation. Jeffrey Lowe, representing the Town of Clarksville in the lawsuit and Douglas Brian Bates, representing HDR, declined to comment for this story.

PROPERTY VALUES

Crabtree addressed property value concerns among the Lakeshore homeowners since the July 2015 incident.

"I'm sure each of us are under the impact of having lowered property value; it certainly would be a factor to consider if you were a prospective buyer if you learned of this, particularly the lower floor units," she said in an interview. There are 24 lower-floor units.

"The loss in value is in no way due to negligence or failure to maintain on the part of any owner or the board of managers," she said at the town council meeting earlier this month. "There's been no indication that anything has been done to prevent it from happening again."

Kathy Garviss, 20-year resident of Lakeshore, lives on a lower-floor unit near Frey's, although at a slightly higher elevation. She said since the overflow last June, she's purchased sewage insurance.

"That's an extra expense I hadn't counted on," she said.

Garviss said in her years at Lakeshore, she'd never experienced a flooding issue like the one last June, and said it has residents nervous.

"Everybody just kind of lives in fear that this is going to happen again," she said. "Every time it rains, you wonder, 'Is this going to be the time?'"

ONGOING CONCERNS

Crabtree said that during heavy rains the past two months, the alarm system on the pump station has gone off several times. She said this shows up on her end as a light on the station. Although the alarm system is designed to also alert wastewater workers to check out the situation, she said she has had to call at least once to alert the department to the alarm.

"The scary part was the alert system on that pump station did not alert [wastewater] to a problem, so the parting word was anytime you or any of the owners see the red light on, by all means call us," Crabtree said. "So I put that word out to 72 people with a phone number. So we watch, and we call."

While not speaking directly about pump station 20, Brittany Montgomery, project coordinator for the town, said that all the pumps have alarm systems that go off for different reasons, and it doesn't necessarily indicate a major issue.

"We get high alarms to all of our stations whenever it rains," she said. "And that doesn't mean there's a backup or anything of that nature necessarily happening, it just tells us that we need to go out and check it and make sure the pumps are functioning properly."

When asked why any of the town's pump station alarms would ever go off or if this a common occurrence, Clarksville wastewater superintendent Michial Otto declined to comment, citing the pending litigation regarding pump station 20.

This story will be updated as information is available from pending records requests.

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