Council reviews plan to ‘naturalize’ Chadwick Village ditch; federal permits and mitigation required

Lebanon City Council on Feb. 10 heard a staff briefing and resident comments about long‑running drainage and standing‑water problems in the Chadwick Village neighborhood and reviewed a high‑level concept to relocate and naturalize the ditch.

City staff said the ditch is regulated as a federal "water of the U.S." and that any change will require U.S. Army Corps of Engineers permits, wetland mitigation and design work. Because federal permitting requires some on‑site wetland function, staff said a reconfigured, naturalized channel would still hold water at certain times of year even though it would no longer sit directly at the edge of backyards.

Why it matters: Residents and council members described repeated flooding and standing water that affects backyards, sump pump outlets and downspouts; staff said the current configuration poses public‑health nuisance and maintenance costs and that the city needs to study long‑term options before construction.

What staff proposed: Kevin, a city staff member who led the presentation, showed a sketch that would relocate the ditch into a meandering, more streamlike alignment and regrade adjacent sections so stormwater drains away from backyards. He said the purple line on the drawing would be the new naturalized channel; the blue area currently holding water would be filled and regraded to direct water to the new channel. Kevin warned the council the reconfigured area would be expected to hold water part of the year to meet mitigation requirements.

Cost and permitting: Kevin gave a high‑level planning budget of about $350,000 for design, permitting and construction and said the project is not funded. He said the Army Corps of Engineers and state agencies had been consulted and that the city would need wetland mitigation and federal permits to proceed. Kevin also said an internal review of the stormwater fund found more than $2 million available and that staff were pursuing delinquent stormwater collections to shore up the fund.

Residents’ remarks: Huck Lewis (10 20 Berry Drive) described earlier conditions, saying, “When I moved in there, it was a lake.” Residents raised concerns about where existing sump pump and downspout outlets would discharge if the ditch were filled and about the possibility of increased costs to homeowners. Kevin said any plan would need an inventory of existing sump pumps and downspouts and might include measures to provide storm‑sewer outlets for those systems.

Council discussion and next steps: Council members emphasized the area’s long history of drainage issues and questioned whether the project scope and price represent the best use of funds. Staff recommended securing engineering proposals to inventory existing discharges and to prepare permitting and construction documents. Council instructed staff to obtain proposals and return with more detailed cost estimates and options; no appropriation or construction authorization was made at the Feb. 10 meeting.

Speakers quoted in this article are those who appear in the transcript and are listed in the article’s speaker list below.