Lifting The Building Moratorium In A Broken Arrow Neighborhood

The Broken Arrow City Council has lifted a moratorium on building permits for a neighborhood. It was one response to a flood back in the spring that damaged 100 homes. <br/><br/>News on 6 reporter Emory

Monday, October 16th 2006, 10:48 am

By: News On 6

The Broken Arrow City Council has lifted a moratorium on building permits for a neighborhood. It was one response to a flood back in the spring that damaged 100 homes.

News on 6 reporter Emory Bryan says the city thinks the developer has made enough progress on solving the problem that they can once again issue building permits in the Glen Eagles neighborhood.

The developer hopes it doesn't mean that other neighborhoods won't have to fix their flooding problems, which he says, caused most of the problems at Glen Eagles. Developer Terry Dorsey is confident he's done what he can to fix the flooding problem at Glen Eagles. â€œWe were not the problem, we are not in a flood plain, none of those areas are in a flood plain.â€

Dorsey and his development have been in the spotlight since May, when an unusual storm dumped 9 inches of rain on Broken Arrow. It flooded more than 100 homes, with some of them on one side of Glen Eagles at the low point of the subdivision. Two other subdivisions had damage, but only Glen Eagles was targeted with a city moratorium on building permits. "We were a bit surprised by the moratorium being done when we were on site trying to solve the problem."

Dorsey says he's worked with the city to do everything they've asked. The city council plans to lift the moratorium. Keith Sterling with the City of Broken Arrow: "We're confident with the level of work that's taken place so far, the moratorium can be lifted tonight."

The moratorium was so short it didn't have much practical effect on the construction out here - not nearly as much as all the publicity about the flooding. The developer hopes now that a solution has been worked out, and with more work on the way, all that will change. Terry Dorsey: "It's complete now and the work is done and hopefully now the city will move forward with a solution for the whole area."

Dorsey says the water that drenched his subdivision came from the neighboring Turnberry neighborhood. The city plans to work there next, trying to increase capacity for runoff, before the next big rain.

The problem with fixing the problems in the other neighborhoods is that they're already filled with houses and there is not much to expand storm sewer systems.

The city of Broken Arrow says it's committed to a "global approach" and that the problems in Turnberry and Steeplechase will be addressed.