Get Full Government Meeting Transcripts, Videos, & Alerts Forever!
Get email alerts on the Infrastructure Maintenance topic
No spam. Unsubscribe anytime.
Resident presses township to address deep drainage ditch on Schoolhouse Road; public works and engineer say piped solution would require property work
Summary
Residents at 446 Schoolhouse Road showed photos of a roughly 3–4 foot deep roadside drainage ditch and asked the township to pipe and fill it; staff said public works has cleared the ditch previously, will add reflectors, but piping or filling would likely require property acquisition and is not standard practice.
A Monroe Township resident asked the council June 30 for help after a drainage ditch in front of 446 Schoolhouse Road remained deep and hazardous despite repeated clearing by public works.
Resident Janice D'Amico (speaking for the household) said contractors had driven heavy trucks into the ditch, the mail carrier nearly went in and the ditch is roughly three to four feet deep. She asked why the township could not install a pipe to replace the open ditch and connect existing pipes at each end.
Township staff and the engineer said public works has been out to the location and that unidirectional flushing and other water‑system work had been completed recently; engineering staff said many township ditches drain from grading on private property and that piping or filling would require surveying and likely property acquisition. The engineer said, “A lot of these ditches in Monroe are on private properties as well as the township property. And any type of correction is gonna, require acquisition of property in order to do any improvements. But again, generally in town, we do not go in and, pipe these ditches.”
Public works said crews had dug out and cleaned the ditch previously and the township plans to add reflectorized poles along the roadside to improve visibility; staff said guardrail was not feasible in the location because a guardrail would sit down in the ditch and would not function as intended. The township attorney/engineer also noted that liability questions depend on who owns and maintains the land alongside the ditch.
What’s next: Staff said public works and engineering are aware and will review the location for safety measures; they asked the resident to provide photos and the township will follow up. The resident requested a more durable solution such as piped drainage, but staff cautioned that such work may require property acquisition or survey work and is not routine.
