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

DATE: TUESDAY, July 11, 1995                   TAG: 9507110084
SECTION: VIRGINIA                    PAGE: C-3   EDITION: METRO 
SOURCE: DAN CASEY STAFF WRITER
DATELINE:                                 LENGTH: Medium

CITY MAY OFFER RELIEF FROM RAINS

As residents of Garden City cleaned up from a freak storm that devastated their community almost two weeks ago, a handful of homeowners from another neighborhood that gets hit every time it rains appealed for help.

Robin Murphy-Kelso and other residents of Summit Hills in Northwest Roanoke told City Council on Monday that they've begged City Hall for years to do something about eroding lawns, damaged driveways and constant gas leaks.

Finally, at the urging of a city engineer who told them there was little he could do for them, they brought a petition with 64 names to council. Five other homeowners in the community of 200-some homes off Peters Creek Road were in the audience.

By a unanimous vote, council ordered City Manager Bob Herbert to tell them within 60 days what needs to be done and how much it will cost to fix problems related to storm water in the community.

``Some residents have tolerated these problems for 20 years,'' Murphy-Kelso said. ``Our property, grass, plants, driveways, etc., are in a constant state of repair.''

Like quite a few other communities in Roanoke, Summit Hills has no storm drains. Instead, it has large ditches between front yards and roadways that storm water runs in. Another community with a similar problem is Chesterton Street in the Deyerle area of Southwest Roanoke.

The ditches fill when runoff from communities higher up drains into the lower sections. In some cases, surging waters damage small bridges that homeowners have built across the ditches to preserve access to their driveways.

``We've been there 38 years, and we've called and called and called,'' said Summit Drive resident Frances Dorton.

``They would come out and say, `Yeah, you need drainage here. You're number blank on the list. We'll take care of it after Peters Creek Road gets done,''' Dorton said.

The last time Dorton called, engineer Versal Dearing told them ``he didn't know what to tell us to do other than to get a petition and bring it before City Council,'' she said outside council chambers.

Public Works Director Bill Clark told council the neighborhood is one of many in the city with no storm drain system. It was annexed from Roanoke County when there were few requirements for drainage in the county, he said.

``On a short-term basis, I cannot offer much to you. ... We have a lot of known drainage needs in the city which would cost tens of millions of dollars,'' Clark said.

In other action, council voted 6-1, with Mac McCadden opposing, to refer Explore Park's request for $50,000 in city funding to the city manager to see if funds can be found for the park this year.

The park was cut out of consideration for funding by the Citizens Services Board because Explore never returned an application for funding that a city official later said he had mailed to an old address for Explore.

by CNB