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Residents and city staff weigh fixes after development drainage floods private property
Summary
A resident said new work in a nearby development has redirected stormwater onto his property; city staff and a board member described options including extending utility easement drainage or redirecting flow to an existing culvert box.
A North Fort Smith resident raised a public comment alleging the new Sisters development redirected stormwater onto his property by cutting a drainage channel, causing repeated flooding.
Thomas Gage presented photos and a packet to the board, describing a beaver‑cut channel and a road grade he said directed runoff onto his parcel and an adjacent apartment property. “Somebody gave them the authority to do that...now it's flooding,” Gage said, and he asked the city to fix the problem.
City staff and board members said inspections are ongoing. A staff member confirmed development plans and said teams are reviewing drainage plans and performing inspections. One board member who visited the site proposed a mitigation option short of regrading the road: extending an existing utility easement ditch or installing a culverted conduit to an existing watershed box to route water to the designed outflow.
The city advised it would have engineering staff meet with the property owner and the developer to consider options. A board member asked administration to provide the approvals records and to verify whether the developer had city authorization for the cut. Staff said the owner and developer had acted under approvals provided by the city but that engineering would determine next steps. The board asked administration to coordinate with engineering and the property owners and to report back.
This was a public comment and not an action item; no formal board action or vote was taken during the meeting.
