Ashley Miller, a resident of 126 Sears Street, told the Tompkins County Facilities and Infrastructure Committee on July 17 that a persistent beaver colony has repeatedly blocked a culvert under Iredell Road and asked why the county keeps sending crews to clear the blockage instead of testing a commercially produced ‘‘beaver deceiver’’ designed to prevent damming at culverts.
Miller said she has for two years sent the highway department a link to a Vermont-made device she described as a one-time solution, and asked whether the county had evaluated the device’s cost-effectiveness compared with repeatedly dispatching crews and heavy equipment.
The committee’s highway representatives said they had discussed Miller’s emails and that the department uses a different maintenance-first approach in that location. Highway staff said they have replaced a failing corrugated-steel culvert there with a smooth-plastic pipe and a headwall designed so one person in a pickup truck can pull debris out in roughly five minutes. Highway staff said that solution reduces the ability of beavers to plug the pipe, limits work done off the paved road surface, and reduces time crews spend working in the waterway. The highway representative also said the Vermont device appears to be a ‘‘softer, homeowner-type fix’’ that would extend work off the county right-of-way and require ongoing maintenance.
Highway staff said they will forward prior email exchanges about the proposed device to Miller, re-open communications with the vendor contacts discussed at a county conference and evaluate whether a middle-ground solution might be appropriate. They also said the site is complicated: the wetland is a large drainage bowl, the beaver-created pond sometimes backs up into a neighboring farm field, and leaving water in place for the device to work could put water into the road subgrade and accelerate pavement deterioration.
Discussion: Miller’s remarks were made during public comment. County staff answered questions from the committee during the agenda item on the quarterly highway capital status report and during a subsequent, related interchange about the Iredell Road site. No formal action, vote or directive to purchase the commercial device was taken at the meeting.
Ending: Highway staff said they will forward the prior email record to Miller and follow up with the local contacts and vendor to determine if another approach is feasible and to report back in a future meeting.