PROSPECT, Ky. (WDRB) -- For Wendell Morgan, the flooding can happen so fast.
He said he and others who live between River Road and the Ohio River in Prospect — in the Sutherland, Historic James Taylor, and Jacob School Neighborhoods — have been dealing with the drainage and run-off problem for years.
"During heavy rains, we're up all night long making sure that the water isn't risen to a level to where it's coming into our homes," he said. "It completely surrounds my home with water to a point where our kids can't even go out because of so much current."
Now, they're concerned a brand new 70-home neighborhood called The Breakers at Prospect could make that problem worse — with more run-off caused by more asphalt — if Louisville's Planning Commission gives it the green light.
Neighbors say rainy days leave the neighborhood submerged. (Courtesy: Kirk Hilbrecht)
"With 70 more homes, it's not about the building," Morgan said. "It's really about where's the water going to go."
He and other neighborhood leaders stress they aren't against development. However, they feel the project is too large and that the Planning Commission is allowing the idea to advance too quickly without enough study of the potential impact.
Meme Runyon, the director of River Fields, also pointed fingers at the Metropolitan Sewer District for not doing enough about the flooding in the first place.
"If this was a rich, white neighborhood, don't you think there would be no homes that get flooded?" she said. "MSD is supposed to serve the citizens, and what you see here is citizens not being served."
Friday, neighbors gave members of the media a tour of the areas most prone to the repeated flooding. (WDRB Photo)
A spokesperson for MSD said the utility is trying. Even though money is tight, it is conducting a study and making smaller fixes like cleaning drainage creeks.
Ironically, MSD believes the new development would actually improve the flooding, since the neighborhood would include a large new drainage pond with a capacity of 8.9 acre-feet, which is three times larger than what's required. MSD said the pond will provide a 17 acre diversion of stormwater run-off.
The broker for the Breakers at Prospect, Stephanie Gilezan, believes the neighbors' fears are overblown.
“In seven months of research with MSD ... the No. 1 option was to do what I’ve done," she said.
She says the run-off the project would create won't impact the James Taylor Neighborhood. She also said she could have proposed a neighborhood with 150 units but chose to do less than half of that allowable density.
She believes the Planning Commission has had plenty of time to study the plan after several delays.
Neighbors say rainy days leave the neighborhood submerged. (Courtesy: Kirk Hilbrecht)
Louisville's Planning Commission is set to take up the development Monday at 6:30 p.m.
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