Stormwater plan approved

NEW LONDON – A stormwater management plan has been approved between the city of New London and Celestial Hills LLC and Ingrid LLC for a development on the south side of the city.
The plan was unanimously approved by the New London Common Council at its March 18 meeting.
The plan was discussed at the March 3 New London Public Works Committee meeting. At the meeting, New London City Administrator Chad Hoerth told the committee that the Celestial Hills development is the one that Randy Retzlaff has on the south side of New London. It includes six apartment complexes, and Southland Lane with 20 lots for single-family homes. There has been a request to rezone the lots for the single-family residential homes to multi-family residential units.
“He’s got a stormwater pond that’s on private property,” Hoerth said. “And because the development was such a large development, the DNR stormwater management regulations kick in.”
Hoerth said the development had to create a stormwater management plan for managing the rainwater on the site. All the rainwater ends up in the stormwater pond.

The agreement states that the developer is responsible for the maintenance of the retention pond, Hoerth said.
The city has “some rights and responsibilities” to make sure the developer is maintaining the pond appropriately.
The developer is also responsible for performing maintaining logs and inspections of the retention pond, Hoerth said. In addition, all the stormwater piping on private property must be maintained and cleaned by the development.
A homeowners association will be created by the development to pay for the maintenance of the stormwater piping, Hoerth said.
“The city is responsible for the maintenance and cleaning of the utility’s stormwater piping that is in the right-of-way,” Hoerth said.
Hoerth said the management plan with Celestial Hills is tied to the TID (tax increment district) grant agreement with the city.
“This is the last checked box we have for requirement for us to pay his first TID payment,” Hoerth said.
Ald. Robert Besaw asked if the developer has a responsibility to build a fence around the retention pond.
Hoerth said a fence is not required to be built around the pond.
Besaw expressed concern about not having a fence around the pond because of children in the area. He pointed out that swimming pools require a fence around them.
When asked who would be responsible for liability if anyone were to be injured in the pond, Hoerth said its private property, so the business owner would be responsible.