Description

The city of Gainesville has failed to maintain the functionality of the drainage ditch to the west of the houses on the south side of NW 22nd terrace (4200-4308 NW22nd Terrace, 32605). The city employee in charge of the public works department and the city engineer who came out to address my concerns deny liability. They say that the issue with the ditch collecting with water is not something they need to address, claiming that the "ditch was never meant for drainage purposes". I did some debris remove and found anti-erosion material in the bed of the ditch under several feet of decayed pine needles. If the ditch was never meant for drainage why would it be there and have anti-erosion material? Ever since the installation of the "Norton Walking Path" the ditch fills with water and become a breeding "ground" for mosquitoes and causes an artificial water table to the properties next to the ditch as the ground be comes extremely saturated and drains very slowly. This saturation and holding of water in the ditch causes yards to flood from 4200-4224 NW 2nd Terrace, as far as I can see from yard to yard, past (north) which the yards do not flood because the ditch has enough of a slope and little debris to allow adequate drainage. Again I have asked the city to resolve the issue and the deny responsibility, most likely because that could result in significant legal financial liability! This is considered criminal negligence since I have addressed the issue and they know of the issue, yet have decided not to act!