ROANOKE TIMES
Copyright (c) 1996, Roanoke Times
DATE: Tuesday, March 26, 1996 TAG: 9603260065
SECTION: VIRGINIA PAGE: B1 EDITION: METRO
COLUMN: What's on your mind?
SOURCE: RAY REED
Q: I live downstream from the location where a new high school for Southwest Roanoke County is to be built. I understand part of the site is in the flood plain, and they're talking about building up the site elevation to take care of the flooding. How is that legal, when the result is pushing water onto other people's property?
T.M., Roanoke County
A: Maybe there are legal implications, and maybe not. The unknown factors here could pile up lots of billable hours for lawyers.
I talked to a couple of lawyers about your question. They said it's legal for an owner to protect property from flooding.
Residents along rivers in the Midwest and California build levees against a "common enemy," under a legal principle sometimes known as "flood your neighbor."
That's not to say that installing a permanent fill in a flood plain is legally the same as building a levee against a transient enemy.
Factors to be considered from a legal standpoint when building in a flood plain are whether the site's in a floodway or on the fringe of the flood area, and the history of water flow in the area.
The proposed high-school construction would elevate some parts of the site as much as 11 feet, to the level of Merriman Road and 2 feet above the 100-year flood plain.
All of that fill would be done in the fringe of the flood plain and not in the floodway, or main channel at flood stage. Construction is prohibited in floodways.
One lawyer said he recalled a general rule that limits doing anything that would raise the water level more than 1 foot.
"It's questions like this that keep lawyers like me in business," a veteran of the profession said.
Friendly warning
Q: Where did the expression "get out of Dodge" come from? |A.S., Roanoke A: It refers to Dodge City, Kan., and is a catch phrase from movies, TV and novels about the Wild West, according to the Dictionary of American Slang by Richard A. Spears.
"Get out of Dodge" probably echoed in many scripts about the town's storied marshals - Wyatt Earp, Bat Masterson and fictional Matt Dillon of "Gunsmoke.''
Backward parking
Q: On Wall Street in Roanoke, beside the City Market Building, the angle-parking slots are slanted backward. The street is narrow, especially when cars park on both sides, and this has resulted in some fender-benders. What's the reason for this very unusual parking alignment?
M.S., Fincastle
A: Those slots, which drivers have to back into at an angle, are stalls for market vendors.
They're oriented backward so farmers can veer their trucks toward the sidewalk and sell produce off the tailgate.
Vendors rent these stalls only on the market's busiest days, so other times they're used for regular parking.
Wall Street is the route from the pedestrian bridge (oops, Market Square Walkway) to the rest of the market, so downtown businesses want vendors in those spaces whenever possible.
Have a question about something that might affect other people, too? Something you've come across and wondered about? Maybe we can find the answer. Give us a call at 981-3118, or e-mail us at RoatimesInfi.Net
LENGTH: Medium: 71 linesby CNB