Neighborhood residents, IRWP and city staff discuss failing detention pond, volunteer stewardship and stormwater funding

A Fayetteville resident described a deteriorating, spring-fed detention pond in the McLaren Drive neighborhood and asked the Urban Forestry Advisory Board for help with erosion and long-term maintenance.

The resident said the pond — about 20 to 25 years old — fills from a perennial stream, “it’s spring fed,” and the outlet has eroded, allowing water to bypass detention controls and leave standing water near homes. “When it floods … it erodes, and it’s eroding bad,” the resident said. She asked whether the city would assist with repairing the outlet, restoring detention capacity and coordinating longer-term vegetation-based fixes.

The city’s landscape/detention-pond code was cited in the discussion: staff said the city’s detention/landscape rules in effect since about 02/2009 generally place long-term maintenance responsibility on property owners until a site is redeveloped. A staff…