Source: Fort Wayne News Sentinel
As general manager and pro of Lakeside Golf Course, Gary Dick knows a few well-placed water hazards can make all the difference.
But the amount of water his aptly named course has seen lately is enough to make Dick yearn for a few more sand traps.
"We never used to have summer flooding, but we were flooded in both July 2003 and June 2004," said Dick, who suspects drainage changes from construction of the nearby Rivergreenway have made his low-lying land even more susceptible to flooding than before.
Allen County officials aren't so sure, but will spend thousands of dollars to investigate the possibility and perhaps many thousands more if a problem is found.
Before 1989, the Pierson Ditch meandered through the course before emptying directly into the Maumee River. When the Rivergreenway was built, however, the decision was made to fill in the ditch and build the path on the surface. Three pipes were installed to carry water from the ditch into the Maumee. But Dick said one of the pipes regularly fills with silt, and the other two can't handle the flow, especially during periods of melting snow or heavy rain.
Because the course at 746 N. Coliseum Blvd. is in the Maumee River's floodway, Dick expects high water during winter and spring. "The front nine has flooded before, but the back nine never used to flood," said Dick, putting the financial loss from summer floods "in the six figures" a loss not covered by insurance.
After years of asking the county for help, the Drainage Board this month agreed to hire an engineer to investigate whether changes to the ditch and construction of the Rivergreenway exacerbated Lakeside's flooding problem. "It's been very frustrating to me and our customers. We're on pins and needles every time we get a drop of hard rain," Dick said.
Currently, the path on the north back of the Maumee River is under water. The county-owned section of the Rivergreenway connects Fort Wayne's portion with paths being built in New Haven. County Surveyor Al Frisinger, who oversees drainage issues, said he doubts changes to the ditch have had a major impact on the golf course. "They're going to flood. They're in a floodway," he said.
Even so, Frisinger agrees the changes to the ditch approved by the Army Corps of Engineers could be adding to drainage problems.
"I'm not going to say (changes to the Pierson Ditch) was the best design. They tried to save money doing it this way," he said. Leaving the ditch open would have required construction of a bridge.
The county will pay a consultant about $8,000 to decide whether the changes have contributed to Lakeside's flooding. Even if they have, however, it's uncertain how much the county will be willing to do to correct the problem.
If Dick gets his wish and the ditch is reopened and a Rivergreenway bridge is built, that could cost hundreds of thousands of dollars. Property owners in the ditch's watershed could be billed for the expense.
But county officials wonder whether homeowners should be taxed to benefit a single business owner especially if it produces only marginal improvements.
Adding insult to injury is this: The Rivergreenway near Lakeside allegedly responsible for some of the course's flooding problems has seldom been open in recent years because of erosion problems. The county made $260,000 in temporary repairs late last year, but a permanent and expensive solution won't come until later this year.
And if the flooding problems persist? Golfers will have to play around the temporary ponds turning the 18-hole course into an abridged version of itself.
"We used to have a lot of tournaments from March to May, but now some people are pushing those back (because of the flooding threat)," Dick said. "We have a lot of loyal customers, but it's tough to get them back (after a flood) because it takes a while to get the course back in shape."
