
                         Roanoke Times
                 Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.

DATE: THURSDAY, March 21, 1991                   TAG: 9103210581
SECTION: VIRGINIA                    PAGE: B1   EDITION: EVENING 
SOURCE: JOEL TURNER MUNICIPAL WRITER
DATELINE:                                 LENGTH: Medium

PETERS CREEK FLOOD PROJECT GEARS UP

Construction will start soon on the initial phase of the Peters Creek flood-reduction project that will lower floodwaters as much as 2 feet in the Meadowbrook Road neighborhood in Northwest Roanoke, where residents complained for years about flooding problems.

The channel of the stream will be cleared of trees, limbs and other debris and widened between Meadowbrook Road and Peachtree Drive.

City Council received bids this week for the channel work and is expected to award a contract in early April.

Construction on most flood-reduction measures in the $4 million Peters Creek project won't begin until early next year, but city officials said the first phase should help reduce flooding along Meadowbrook Road.

"It should lower flooding there by 18 inches to 2 feet," said John Peters, an engineer who helped develop the plans.

Peters said the stream channel is partly blocked south of Meadowbrook, which causes flooding to be worse upstream.

The Peters Creek project will also include the construction of three retention basins, replacement of several bridges and culverts, floodproofing up to 80 houses and other channel improvements.

Mattern and Craig, a Roanoke consulting firm, has been hired to do the engineering and design work for the project. Dianna Likens, project engineer, said most of the plans won't be finished until late this year.

The project will be financed with bond funds that were approved by voters in a referendum last year. The money was included in the bond issue after angry property owners demanded that the city do something about the flooding problems.

The residents complained that the city and Roanoke County have permitted extensive commercial development along Peters Creek in recent years that has made the flooding worse.

Council has also voted to ask the federal government to acquire 14 houses on Meadowbrook Road off Peters Creek that have been flooded frequently and convert the area into green space or a park.

The city has applied for funds under a Federal Emergency Management Agency program that provides federal money to buy property that is flooded frequently. FEMA has indicated that funds might be available to buy the Meadowbrook houses, but the agency has made no commitment.

If the application for federal funds is approved, FEMA would buy the houses and then turn them over to the city. The federal agency would handle the negotiations with the owners.

The city has agreed to convert the area into an open space and prohibit development on it if the houses are bought and demolished.

by CNB