FAIRVIEW PARK, Ohio — Judy Churchin is a Fairview Park homeowner who is hoping a long-term solution will soon be found to the chronic flooding issue she said has plagued her neighborhood for decades.
Churchin, who uses a wheelchair to get around her home, said she was wondering how she would deal with flood damage after the August 24 storms that swept through Northeast Ohio, since she keeps a significant amount of what she needs in her basement.
"I have a lift that goes to the basement, so I have everything down there that I can get rather than up in the attic,” Churchin said. So I'm wondering how am I going to clean the basement, how am I going to get it all done, are there germs down there, do we have sewage down there, I don’t think anyone should have to live like that.”
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Churchin and dozens of other Fairview Park homeowners expressed their flooding concerns on theCommunity of Fairview Park Facebookpage and will bring their flooding complaints to the Sept. 5 Fairview Park City Council meeting.
Churchin's neighbor Cheryl Krogman told News 5 she and her husband have been dealing with yearly basement flooding drama every year and believe federal and state funding needs to be found to make significant infrastructure improvements to the city wastewater system.
“To have to worry every time it rains about what’s going to happen,” Krogman said. “I started to cry down the in basement, and I got upstairs and I’m still crying, and he says what’s the matter did we get more water and I said these are tears of joy that we didn’t get anymore.”
John Mandula is a Fairview Park homeowner who is running for city council at large and believes the communities that rely on the Rocky River Waste Water Treatment Plant need to come together to address flooding issues. Mandula told News 5 he's hoping Fairview Park will find a way to do what the City of Bay Village is doing in launching a $21 million wastewater improvement plan.
“It’s the number one priority that’s been going on for 50-plus years," Mandula said. “I know we roll into Westlake, Bay, Fairview, River all go into the River treatment plant, I’d like to see some kind of collaboration between the communities.”
Fairview Park Mayor Patrick Cooney responded immediately to our story and said his administration is responding in the search for a long-term flooding solution. Cooney said the city has secured a $3.5 million grant to improve a section of the city sewer system, some of which is 100 years old. Cooney said the city just purchased a new sewer jet cleaning machine in 2022, and his administration is in the midst of searching for state and federal funding to make significant system improvements in the coming years.
Cooney said the current flood improvement plan and study are ten years old, but his administration is crafting a new plan that should be completed by the end of 2023. The mayor said homeowners who need information on how to best deal with flooding could contact his office and the city engineering department would set up an at-home consultation.
Meanwhile, Churchin is hoping the city will work to solve, or significantly improve, the flooding issues as soon as possible.
"Next door they had five inches in their whole basement, other people had eight inches in their basement, and they were throwing out things left and right," Churchin said. “I think if you live in your house you shouldn’t have to be worried that your basement is going to be ruined, or what is down there is going to be ruined.”
News 5 is committed to following through on Northeast Ohio city efforts to solve chronic flooding.
