A “temporary” detention pond that has been around perhaps 20 years is about to be drained as part of a deal between Simon CRE and the Portage Redevelopment Commission.
Simon, which is developing the BJ’s Wholesale Club site on the southwest corner of Airport Road and U.S. 6, asked the RDC to allow the pond to be drained and turned into an outlot Simon can develop. In exchange, the developer will build sewer infrastructure and build a detention pond on RDC property, all at the developer’s expense.
That’s something the RDC would have had to pay for as part of its planned extension of Veterans Parkway to Scottsdale Drive. “It saves the city from going to a bid for a project that would have no cost on our behalf,” Redevelopment Director Dan Botich said.
The design is already complete, so the drawings will be provided to the developer, City Engineer John Hannon said.
The temporary pond was built on the northwest corner of that site when the Kohl’s store was being built, before Hannon’s time as consulting city engineer for Portage. The pond has no outlet and has caused flooding problems when it overflows.
“That’s actually going to go away and be a developable lot, an outlot for that property,” Hannon said.
The city not only gets new drainage infrastructure for free but also gets rid of the problematic pond and additional tax revenue when the outlot is developed.
When the sewer infrastructure is in place, the developer will turn it over to the city to maintain, just as any developer would when building new roads and sewers to the city’s specifications. Maintenance is easy, just mowing the grass and inspecting the pond. If sediment builds up, the city drains it and regrades the bottom so it performs as designed.
“It’s going to help the neighbors in a big way,” Hannon said.
Mayor Austin Bonta said he was surprised when he learned the pond was intended to be temporary even though it’s been around for so long. He joked about taking his grandchildren to visit the pond someday and telling them, “You guys don’t know this, but this pond wasn’t always here.”
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Someday he might be able to do that with the new pond.
“Typically, there’s a warranty that goes with the project,” one or two years, Hannon said.
“It’s going to be new infrastructure, and it’s going to work a lot better. It’s going to solve a lot of problems,” he said.
In other business, Planning and Development Director Tom Cherry persuaded the RDC to postpone seeking bids for demolition of the former Garyton School, a costly endeavor.
Last week, he met with a representative about a state grant that could pay 90% of the cost of the project up to $500,000.
Rather than get the quotes now and having to seek new ones later, Cherry asked for time to make sure the RDC can get that grant first. The project wouldn’t happen until next year anyway.
Doug Ross is a freelance reporter for the Post-Tribune.