Flood victims ask why stream wasn't cleared before latest storm deluged Bucks County?

On a sunny Friday afternoon starting the Labor Day weekend, the tiny brook babbling alongside Taylorsville Road in Lower Makefield looked picture perfect: its water clear and flowing freely.

Hardly the same could be said of the stream just seven weeks earlier when its muddy waters raged onto the roadway and into the neigbhoring Maplevale neighborhood, swamping basements and destroying vehicles and appliances.

Now residents are questioning whether the devastating scene of July 15, and the damage and destruction it wrought, could have been avoided if the township followed a plan it had, allocating nearly $250,000 to address flooding.

In 2022, Lower Makefield set aside more than $237,000 in federal stimulus money to alleviate flooding in the Maplevale neighborhood following a bad storm in September 2021.

The project was never completed and the neighborhood flooded again in July when storm water raced down the hill that overlooks the community and overpowered the tiny stream, then filled with vegetation and other clogging debris.

'If they had done the work, July 15 would never have happened," said resident Lisa Mason, who said she feels time and money were wasted on engineering reports that weren't implemented in time to mitigate another flood.

As they now clean out their soggy basements and replace flood-ruined household items and vehicles, the Maplevale residents and their flooded out neighbors on Taylorsville Road — many of whom who didn't have flood insurance to cover their loses — want to know: What went wrong? Why wasn't the money used last year to clear the stream? They vented their anger at township officials.

In April 2022, the township supervisors heard from an engineering consultant how more inlets would be installed, and once a DEP permit was issued, the stream could be cleared. The supervisors unanimously voted for the project given the neighborhood's flood history and the severity of the 2021 storm

According to the meeting minutes, former township Manager Kurt Ferguson estimated it would cost about $250,000 and the township would fund the entire project with part of a $1.7 million allocation from the federal American Rescue Plan.

More: What we know about fatal flash flooding in Upper Makefield that claimed five lives

But all the work wasn't done.

"They simply did not do what they said in the supervisors' meeting that they would do," Mason said earlier this month.

"It was promised to us and it wasn't done," said Mason, who saw her driveway on Taylorsville Road become a lake in 45 minutes during theJuly storm which also claimed seven lives in nearby Upper Makefield.

Township Police Chief Ken Coluzzi, who served as both police chief and township manager for the last six months of 2022, admitted he didn't know why the work wasn't done sooner. He was serving as interim manager and the township's current Public Works Director Derek Fuller also just started his job in late summer 2022.

More: Lower Makefield neighborhood frustrated as it awaits repairs after devastating flash floods

Where the money went to clean the stream near Maplevale in Lower Makefield

Current Township Manager David Kratzer, who was hired earlier this year, said that the first phase of the project actually cost more than anticipated, so the township applied for a state grant to help fund the second phase, which was to include cleaning the stream.

He said the needed permit from the Pennsylvania Department of Environmental Protection to clear the stream was granted in September 2022 but the township was waiting for a state Small Stream and Sewer grant to come through to do the work since the remaining federal funds wouldn't be enough.

Kratzer said in an email that of the $237,750 the supervisors originally allocated for Maplevale, "$65,036.54 was spent for the Maplevale Phase 1 Project in 2022 (paid to Bencardino Excavating Contractors, the contractor for the project). In 2023, an additional $102,762.94 was paid to Bencardino. In total, $167,799.48 was paid for the Maplevale Phase 1 Project using ARPA monies."

He said $69,950.52 remains from the initial allocated amount but that won't be enough to complete the work now needing to be done in Phase 2.

"The remaining allocated funds and likely more will be spent to implement the (entire) planned Maplevale Phase 2 Project."  He said if the state grant is not enough, the township will use more of its federal allocation.

Emergency cleanup underway

Since the July 15 storm, an emergency permit to get the work done was issued by DEP. Kratzer said sediment 450 linear feet south of Highland Drive and 50 feet north of Highland has been removed.

"We are in the process of preparing applications to do additional sediment removal work. Requirements are promulgated by the PA DEP," Kratzer said.

In a Right to Know request to the township, Mason asked for information on the financing for the project and maintenance logs for the stream prior to the July 15 storm.

Katie McVan, the manager's assistant, wrote back that "Lower Makefield Township does not have any files or maintenance logs pertaining to the stream area in question. The only information is post July 15th flood when emergency contractors were used," she wrote.

Delays to fix sinkhole in Maplevale

Another part of the Maplevale project is now also on the backburner, awaiting permits from DEP and the state Department of Conservation and Natural Resources.

Kratzer said that the need for DEP and the DCNR to do studies of the drainage along the Delaware Canal is also delaying the township's request to install two side-by-side storm water pipes on Maplevale Drive where a large sinkhole developed in the backyards of two adjacent residences. The sinkhole was caused by erosion around a single stormwater pipe that drained into the Delaware Canal behind the two properties.

In the meantime, the township has replaced the single pipe and filled in the sinkhole, reinforcing the stream bank so the sinkhole shouldn't form again. Kratzer said it is "substantial improved...there was a lot of work done to improve the state of the bank." He said the township is awaiting word on the studies of the canal now needed before it will reassess any more improvements along the canal.

Since the flood, township Supervisor Chairman Frederic Weiss resigned for personal reasons. The other township supervisors could not be reached for comment on the Maplevale project Friday.

This article originally appeared on Bucks County Courier Times: Lower Makefield stream clean up delayed, Maplevale floods again