Prestonwood West residents ask Arlington council for help with stormwater erosion

Multiple residents from the Prestonwood West neighborhood urged Arlington City Council on Jan. 6 to intervene after years of stormwater runoff that homeowners say is eroding yards and threatening property.

Speakers including Patrick Kelly, Jeff Morris, Steve Daniels and James Brace described soil loss, failing retaining walls and high-velocity runoff that begins upstream and travels through city streets and drainage infrastructure into their neighborhood. They said the problem is beyond the capacity of homeowners’ associations to manage and asked the council to provide engineering leadership and define viable stormwater solutions.

"We are asking the city council with your leadership to step in, not to assign blame, but to provide engineering direction and leadership," said Steve Daniels, a Prestonwood West resident. Several speakers said the upstream flow originates near Sanford Street and accelerates through culverts and drainage systems before concentrating in their neighborhood.

Speakers asked the council to review upstream conveyance, drainage infrastructure and to coordinate staff-level engineering work to protect homes and stabilize erosion before conditions worsen. They stressed they were not asking the city to assume responsibility for every private lake or dam, but for targeted, engineering-driven solutions where city-owned infrastructure concentrates stormwater runoff into private properties.

Council did not take immediate action during the citizen-participation section beyond listening; residents framed the request as an appeal for staff and council attention to seek technical remedies and possible funding or project-scoping to address concentrated runoff.

The council adjourned after announcements and did not set a next step on this item in the minutes recorded in the transcript.