Steering the natural flow of stormwater away from properties is the target of a new driveway and kerb program created by Parkes Shire Council.
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Council has committed $80,000 from its existing 2020/21 budgeted funds for a driveway, kerb and gutter interface improvement program.
The program will see council officers work with landowners to design and construct new, compliant kerb-to-property-boundary sections of driveways that will appropriately exclude the natural flow of stormwater from the property and keep it within the roadway as it is designed.
Properties targeted for this program will be those with pre-existing stormwater impacts on downstream properties due to the insufficient construction of the existing driveway.
Infrastructure Director Andrew Francis said in his report tabled at council's October 20 meeting they receive an average of 20-30 drainage/stormwater-related customer requests and complaints after each significant rainfall event.
"A number of on-going complaints require significant capital investment, including significant changes to road/laneway construction, adjustment of kerb gutter and/or maintenance of open table drains, as well as enhancement of the underground stormwater network and placement of large detention structures up-stream to attenuate flows," he said.
"Most of these issues need long-term planning and investment over multiple operational planning cycles to improve the outcomes.
"A small subset of on-going issues are related to neighbour-to-neighbour stormwater conveyance, that is, the design or construction of one property directs or diverts stormwater onto an adjoining property."
Mr Francis proposed at the meeting that council commit funds to rectify private, non-compliant infrastructure that's on council land to prevent further impact on and improve issues for downstream properties.
"There is [a rough estimate of] 15-20 properties within each of the Parkes Shire townships where the upstream driveway of a property has been constructed in a fashion that diverts stormwater from the road down the driveway, impacting the property and subsequent downstream or adjacent properties," he said.
"There potentially could be more.
"In each of the cases the non-compliant property owner has been approached by council officers on several occasions to rectify the driveways but where the impact for the non-compliant property owner is low, there has been no action."
The average cost of the work per property has been estimated at $4000.
"The offer [to landowners] will be made on an ex-gratia basis, that is, the act of constructing the new section of driveway on behalf of the landowner using community funds will not set a precedent for any future property owners to claim a similar opportunity," Mr Francis said.
Cr Bill Jayet strongly supported the program, especially with a La Nina weather event, that's associated with heavy rain, predicted to hit around mid-December.
The $80,000 will be taken from council's existing approved budget items within its kerb and gutter, and urban roads programs, with the aim of completing the upgrades by the end of this financial year, June 30, 2021.
Council also agreed to do a media campaign on homeowners' responsibilities to minimise the impact of stormwater on downstream properties.
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