Fittingly enough, it rained Monday night when Austin flood victims met at the Austin Eagles Aerie headquarters.

Tuesday, May 01, 2001

Fittingly enough, it rained Monday night when Austin flood victims met at the Austin Eagles Aerie headquarters.

When raindrops fall, the anxiety rises for residents and business owners in the city’s floodplain.

They remain in a constant state of agitation over the apparent lack of inaction by the city of Austin to address flood issues in the city.

After three weeks of meetings, the level of agitation has only grown.

"It needs to become a higher priority for the city," said Fran Skinness, a resident of Hangge Addition in northeast Austin. "The ice arena and the Wescott Athletic Field improvements are on the front burner. We’re on the back burner."

Skinness offered proof of flooding concerns taking a back seat to other civic improvements. According to Skinness, the city of Austin convinced state Sen. Grace Schwab (R-Albert Lea) to sponsor a bill in the Minnesota Legislature to allow the Austin Independent School District to borrow money to begin its multiphased improvement project at Wescott Field.

Even the city’s proposal to collect a half-cent sales tax to set aside monies for flood projects didn’t meet with Skinness’ complete approval.

"The half-cent sales tax is a good first step, but we need a specific project to fund," he said. "I don’t trust the City Council with that kind of money they expect to collect."

"Why can’t they forgive the taxes of flood victims until some permanent flood control action is taken and it stops flooding?" he said.

Pete Christopherson, Second Ward Austin City Council member – the only city official present at Monday night’s meeting – agreed with Skinness’ call for more details on how the council proposes to spend the sales tax receipts.

"We need more details," Christopherson said. "I’ve heard that, too. People want more specifics on how we propose to spend the money on flood control."

Skinness is so frustrated that he has bermed his own residence in Hangge Addition as allowed by law with 1,000 cubic yards of dirt.

"We’re going to berm seven homes out there," he said. "We can’t get any other relief, so we’re going to protect our own homes and send more water downstream. What else can we do?"

Berming was a recurring theme of the meeting of 15 citizens. More than once, the suggestion arose to take only 5 inches of topsoil in the areas, where homes have been removed along the Cedar River, and build a berm along the river banks to combat high waters.

For Dick Brekke of the Austin Eagles Aerie No. 703, berming an area near the constantly flooded service club with dirt from the new Whittier Apartments along Fourth Street SE also could offer some protection.

Vicky Trimble, owner of the new Hardy Geranium business at the intersection of Fourth Street SE and Oakland Avenue, agreed, and so did Jane Crowley, owner of the Stuttgart Tan and Travel business in the former Minnesota AAA agency office building.

"We keep sandbags read to go at the Eagles club," Brekke said. "We’re ready to sandbags all four entrances to the club. That’s all we can do until the city does something."

Brekke also promoted examining the state-federal Conservation Reserve Enhancement Program, which, he said, has been used to ease flooding near tiny Vesta along the Minnesota River.

"There are some little projects, like berming and even building ponds where they have all that space now that they have moved houses out of the flood plain. They could help the flooding situation, too," Skinness said.

Others at the meeting were even more exasperated and suggested filing lawsuits against the city of Austin for allowing the floods to continue unabated.

Trimble said some Austinites don’t realize how serious the flooding problems are in the city.

"They really don’t," she said. "The last time it flooded, they don’t known how close we came to losing the entire wastewater treatment plant. You just ask those people who works there how serious it was. We almost lost it and something like that would affect the entire city and then everybody would know how bad it is."

In the end, the flood victims vowed to continue to apply pressure on the Austin City Council for action.

They will meet again 6 p.m. May 21 to assess further action.