Utilities committee recommends engineering authorization for Northland–Bel Air flood improvements after staff outlines $22M plan

The Appleton Utilities Committee voted to recommend approval of preliminary engineering for the Northland–Bel Air drainage study and Study Update #4, sending the item to the Common Council for final action next Wednesday. The committee’s recommendation was recorded as 4–0.

Deputy Director Neuberger, presenting staff and consultant findings, said the study by Brown and Caldwell identified three primary improvement areas: enlarging the Veterans Memorial Park Pond South to increase storage and water‑quality benefits; building a Northland Avenue storm‑sewer conveyance backbone to move water into the expanded pond; and installing targeted local storm‑sewer and inlet upgrades east of Mead Street and south of Northland Avenue. “The maximum modeled identified flooding … from 1 and a half feet, all the way up to 5.3 feet,” Neuberger said in the presentation, describing the modeled 100‑year, 24‑hour storm depths in the study area.

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