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TROY — Some residents who live in the Livernois and Square Lake Road area are voicing concerns on the impact of some recent and pending developments, saying that their homes are now subject to repeated flooding because of drainage problems.
Walter Storrs III, who lives on Martell Drive, in Sylvan Glen Subdivision 3, expressed worry about the neighborhood being affected by a storm drainage problem after large storms occurred in 2019 and 2023.
He said in a 2023 letter to Mayor Ethan Baker and the Troy City Council that in August 2019, a major storm caused severe flooding in his subdivision.
“I personally witnessed flood waters actively flowing Eastward along both sides of my house . . . The water was 100% around the foundation and approximately one inch up the northerly basement window glass. I waded Eastward to Folkstone Dr. where the water was well above My knees in the center of the street. I’m confident the streets further East of Folkstone Dr. were similarly flooded.”
Late in the evening on Aug. 24, 2023, Storrs noted that a similar storm occurred, with storm water flowing around his and his neighbors’ houses.
“Martell Dr. was not as severely flooded as in 2019 because I stationed Myself on the street with a rake to repeatedly clear debris from the storm drain grates during and for a while after the storm,” Storrs said in the letter. “The storm water comes across and from the Smith and Martell school properties and in addition carries drain clogging debris with it.”
Several community members who live on Martell Drive, Folkstone Drive and Glasgow Drive also signed the letter to indicate that they have either experienced or could confirm one or both of these flood events.
At the June 10 City Council meeting, Baker referred the flooding issues to current City Manager Robert Bruner, which led to a half hour meeting with City Engineer Scott Finley and Assistant City Manager Meg Schubert, as well as one of Storrs’ neighbors who signed Storrs’ original letter.
“We continue to see storm events that push our infrastructure to the limit,” Baker said in an email. “The City of Troy is hyper focused on proactive measures that can be taken—recognizing the value and importance of maintaining our current infrastructure — and is quick to respond when it is time to react. Concerns are often brought to us relating to the impact of new developments, and we value the input, and consistently work with developers to improve our infrastructure and ensure there is no detrimental impact on surrounding properties. We take this very seriously, and are grateful for the collaboration of all parties.”
Storrs said in an email to a neighbors group that they learned at the meeting that detention at the new school building west of Livernois, on 19 Mile Road, has its stormwater detention underground, as does development on the west side of Livernois, just south of 19 Mile.
“Disappointingly We also learned that in older developments the City does not have leverage to require maintenance of the detention basins,” he said in the email. “They do in the newer developments.” He reported that the city will be working with the school district on stormwater detention and will remain cognizant of residents’ drainage issues, and he said they seemed forthright and interested in helping.
Storrs also attended a Troy School District Board of Education meeting to explain the flooding issues, and he requested a meeting to discuss the upcoming new Smith Middle School project.
He said district Director of Communications Kendra Montante approached him and invited him to speak with her.
“Mr. Storrs came to our last board meeting and wanted to discuss this with the district,” Montante said, adding that they are working on connecting with each other to talk about the issue.
Storrs’ concerns have also been recognized by other community members associated with the “Save Troy Corners”!!! Facebook group — specifically, those who had experienced similar flood issues.
“My wife and I live at … Telford Dr,” Jeff Williams, with “Save Troy Corners”!!!, said in an email. “Ever since the woods were removed north of Square Lake Rd and east of Livernois, we absolutely have had more standing water, longer in our side yard.”
The purpose of “Save Troy Corners”!!! is to appeal to city officials and developers to take more time to assess potential projects in order to ensure projects won’t negatively impact the land or people living nearby.
“I agree with Troy working very hard with putting in higher-density complexes and addressing the housing shortage,” Williams said. “We are just asking to, hopefully, keep some of these developments to what the property is currently zoned for and not changed to accommodate higher densities.” He said that a graph from the city’s website shows that only 9% of the units being built from the past four years have been traditional homes. “Higher densities, I believe, equal more traffic, more waste, more energy consumption, more water usage, less grass, less trees, bigger concrete footprints and a greater need for larger water detention areas based upon the reduced ability to have better water adsorption from the undeveloped ground.”
One of the main projects “Save Troy Corners”!!! is concerned with is the planned unit development of the Village of Hastings.
The project includes 33 residential units comprising four different housing types, Community Development Director Brent Savidant said.
The housing units include multiunit row homes, single-family homes and single-family duplex homes, as well as attached and detached ranches. The current zoning for the area this project is planned for is considered R-1B, Single Family Residential, and an NN-Q Neighborhood Node. Approximately 4.9 acres of the site is currently zoned R-1B, which does not permit multifamily residential. Around 1.1 acres of the site is zoned Neighborhood Node, which does allow multifamily residential.
The neighborhood nodes concept, which had been something the city of Troy had long been in the process of implementing when it came up at a master plan discussion this February, focuses on developing certain intersections near major crossroads in the city with the ultimate goal of providing residents with more amenities within walking distance of major residential areas.
There had been calls from residents for more scrutiny regarding planning of two particular neighborhood nodes.
“These two neighborhood nodes have become so significant, because if you look at public comments from residents and their concerns about development, they largely come from around Crooks and Wattles, and from Square Lake and Livernois, which are the areas around these two neighborhood nodes in question,” Baker said in February. “When residents express concerns about these two specific neighborhood nodes, it warrants further scrutiny and action. The question is whether multifamily housing and mixed-use development properties is appropriate for those two areas. There also is a question of whether we want to preserve more at Square Lake and Livernois as a historical site.”
The Village of Hastings project has been under consideration by the Planning Commission and City Council for a few years and received multiple revisions in order to ensure the project is maintaining some of the historic elements of that area of Troy and is considering environmental and residential impacts, officials said.
“We’re excited for this upcoming project,” Gary Abitheira, a representative with the Village of Hastings project, said in a written statement. “Troy is in need of more homes that suit its aging residents who are looking to downsize, and we aim to provide that with ranch units. Additionally, we are working to preserve the historical charm of our wonderful city by leaving 3 of the historic Livernois homes. To further preserve Troy’s charm, we will no longer be including 3 story units, for we see the value in a less dense space. At the end of the day, Troy is a great place to live, and we want residents to continue to enjoy that even as they outgrow the need for a large family home.”
At the Planning Commission’s May 28 meeting, the commission recommended the project’s approval with a vote of 6-2.
“I don’t blame Mr. Abitheira for trying to maximize the profit on the property,” said Planning Commission member Dave Lambert, who voted against. “I mean, he’s a businessperson, and that’s the American way as an entrepreneur, to try and maximize your profit. He builds good projects. If this gets approved by City Council, I have no doubt it’ll be a nice project, but I’m concerned about the fact, looking through the PUD standards, that not enough of them have been met in order to approve the project. So I will be voting no on the proposal.”
“I, for one, definitely appreciate Mr. Abitheira’s every edit he’s done to this project,” Planning Commission member Jayalaksmi Malalahalli said. “He has listened to us. He has gone back and he has done changes as needed to the best possible ability, which includes unit reduction, which we wanted because we didn’t want density in that area. I, for one, live very close to the neighborhood, notes I had definitely mentioned that. I also was very clear on no three-stories. He complied with that, so I appreciate him for doing that, and of course this particular planned unit development, although we know that there are some voices that are still not in approval of this, I know it will definitely create more recreation space for the residents.”
Troy City Council will likely consider this project at a meeting planned some time in August.
For more information, visit the “Save Troy Corners”!!! Facebook page or troymi.gov.
