(Spirit Lake)– We’re learning details into the first meeting of a committee that was recently appointed to address flood concerns in the Iowa Great Lakes and downstream along the Little Sioux River. Steve Clark represents the Dickinson County Board of Supervisors on the 11-member group which met for the first time July 2nd…
“We all kind of agreed that this is going to be a long term approach to get this done, working with farmers, with developers, with all of the planning and zoning boards to make sure we all require large enough retention ponds. Can we require a retention pond for a thousand year storm? Probably not but maybe we should move it to handle a 50 year. So there’s a lot of things that we’re exploring.”
Clark says the committee’s next meeting is set for July 23rd…
“We’re giving some people some time to gather some numbers and some information. We’re going to collaborate with the Iowa Flood Center which is Dr. Weber and his group over in Iowa City. Implementing flood resilient practices is probably the number one thing and it’s also probably the longest term thing. Are we going to tear up streets and driveways and stuff so water can get in the ground? No, probably not. Looking at these soils, whether they’re a sandy soil or a more hydric soil that will absorb the water and hold it and release it slowly. We’re going to have to look at a lot of options like that.”
Clark says a hydrologist is also compiling updated information on water flow for the bridge planned for construction at the Lower Gar Outlet…
“DNR is requiring to have specific flow information from that particular bridge. So we’ve got to have that updated. It’s probably going to cost $10,000, $12,000 to get that all updated so we can get that to the DNR so we can get approval to do the construction that’s slated in the ’25-’26 calendar year.”
Clark adds there likely will be a renewed emphasis for planning and zoning commissions to adopt low impact development ordinances along with long term plans for maintaining things such as pavers and rain gardens.
Clark made his comments during today’s (Tues.) Dickinson County Board of Supervisors meeting.
