Gossman Drain Information Site

The expansion of the Gossman Drain district to include Old farm Subdivision occurred as a result of a Charter Township of Fort Gratiot official request to the Drain Commission, to deal with the drainage problems.

According to official Township records, there are a total of 4 properties reported with drainage problems within the geographic boundaries of the expanded Gossman Drain district encompassing Old Farm. It would be interesting to learn if the proposed project will address these 4 problems, and how. Surely there must be more than these four drainage problems to justify the $1.3 million dollar cost and the environmental impact.   I have requested a list of all the reported drainage problems from the Drain Commission in my recent FOIA request (click here to view FOIA request).

To see Township records of all the drainage problems ever reported, go to the Supporting Documents page or click here.

• Mariani,  4272 Guilford Lane 6/25/97 and much subsequent correspondence
• Digiuseppe, 4298 Guilford Lane
• Nowak, 3679 old Farm Lane, first report 6/5/2003
• Slezinski, 3609 Sunset Lane  4/9/97 – not part of Gossman Drain project
• Coggins, 3625 Sunset Lane 4/9/97 – not part of Gossman Drain project
• Vincent, 4342 Old Forge 5/11/81

In 2002 Huron Consultants, on behalf of the St. Clair County Drain Commission, completed the one and only “preliminary” study of Drainage problems in Old Farms. No further studies gave been published.

Click here to view their findings as they appeared in the report. The full report can be found on the Supporting Documents page.

Branch 2 behind Old Forge was reported as completely blocked in one place.

Branch 3 behind Surrey Lane was reported as partially blocked.

The only specifically reported flooding:

• Front yards on Quaker Hill Drive.  Attributed to blocked culverts in the front yards (not part of Gossman Drain).

The report mentions that “in the North and Est portion of the Old Farm Subdivision…flooding problems have been reported.”  No details as to where, when or how frequently. Nor does it mention to whom the flooding was reported.

The St. Clair County Drain Commission Office has not provided any specific reports of flooding to this writer, despite multiple Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) requests.

Watch http://www.gossmandrain.com for an upcoming post that will provide all the reports of flooding on file at the Township of Fort Gratiot.

At Tuesday’s DNRE Public Hearing, Mr. Robert Wiley, St. Clair County Drain Commissioner, announced that public hearing will be held regarding the Gossman Drain project.

Click here to learn more about when and where the public hearing will be held and what will be covered.

At the January 11 DNRE Public Hearing for the Drain Commission’s Permit Application, one of our neighbors raised a very important  question:

• What are the specific problems that this $1.3 million project will solve?

I asked:

• What alternative solutions for these problems were evaluated?

Neither of these questions were answered at the hearing.

To get to the root of the first question, I  have sent the Drain Commissioner a Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) request (click here to see it) asking for the specific “drainage problems” and “areas of concern” that the project will address.

My previous FOIA request to the Drain Commissioner, over a year old, has gone unanswered.

If you have any drainage problems or areas of concern, please click on the  Leave a Comment link, below,  to add your problem to the list that I will post. Be sure to describe your problem fully and give your address.  I will forward your problem report to the Drain Commissioner.

I have obtained all the drainage problem reports that Fort Gratiot Township has on file and I will be posting these shortly.