The disposition of the intersection of west Lake Avenue and south Troy Road, or if you prefer, of County Road 11 and Township Road 216, is a subject that has not only been hashed and re-hashed over the past several months, it has been sliced, minced, shredded, pulped, liquefied and atomized.

More than 140 acres of land directly southwest of said intersection were recently annexed into the city, with plans to build about 360 housing units on the property, much to the chagrin of those who live near the crossroads and use it on a daily basis.

I considered this as I sat in my vehicle facing south at the intersection Wednesday, Aug. 19, at about 5:30 p.m., with the rain coming down like it was the first day of Noah’s outing on his ark.

Technically, I was in the city of Bellefontaine, but in order for me to make it to my house in the city limits less that a mile to the east – in my car, that is – my choices for a route home were severely limited.

Should I have turned left, the underpass on west Lake was deep enough to stock with bass, eliminating that as my route home.

T.R. 216 had three low spots where water was running across the road between the intersection where I sat and County Road 18. I was stopped at the C.R. 18/T.R. 216 crossroad as Allen Road, which leads from there into city, was completely under water east of the railroad tracks.

A couple cars and trucks with drivers who had assured themselves that the rising water on Allen Road, “ain’t that deep” found out the hard way that it was indeed “that deep.” Crews were on hand at the site fishing a car out of the water and mud.

To the north of the intersection, Blue Jacket Creek was doing its thing at the railroad overpass on south Troy Road, which is to say that Blue Jacket was temporarily open for kayaking but not to motor vehicle traffic.

A right turn would have led me to County Road 32, where I could have cut across the west end of the city to State Route 47, but the protected wetlands and impassable pond in front the Logan County Sheriff’s Office – a road which remained closed because of flooding as of this writing earlier this week – prevented me from choosing this option.

The intersection of C.R. 11 and T.R. 204, a quarter mile west of the C.R. 32/11 crossing was also under about four feet of water.

In other words, the only viable option for me to get to my house from that intersection at that time was to hang a U-turn and use Plumvalley Street, which terminates in a low spot on south Troy Rd. near of the Bellefontaine Wastewater Treatment plant. All of my other options were under water.

After I made it back in the city proper via Plumvalley, I found that things weren’t any better on Bellefontaine’s east side.

Two sections of White Pines Boulevard. were completely submerged and a number of homes in Maris Park were accessible only by boat.

I stopped at a house in Maris Park, where the family who lived there were gathered in the garage, watching nervously as running water was streaking across their driveway as the rain was progressing from a storm to a deluge.

Two houses to their immediate east were now lakefront property, surrounded on all four sides by water, mud and reek. Rocks the size of a fist were being tumbled into the street by the newly-formed creeks.

The family watched helplessly as water levels crept ever higher toward their house. They told me that they had lived in the development for about six months and that flooding problems were not listed as one of the amenities of buying a home in Maris Park.

Turning our attention to the city’s southeast side, a 50-feet stretch of a water-retaining wall behind the houses on the east side of the 1100 block of Michigan Street had given way under the weight of runoff from the recently denuded grounds of the Liberty Landing development.

The wall was built by the city following a similar catastrophe in 2019.

Once the wall collapsed, those who live in and near the “dip” on both sides of the street found their garages, basements and patios were now part of what is euphemistically called “Michigan Pond.”

Immediate damage to the homes included ruined water heaters, washers, dryers, furniture and carpets.

Long-term damage to the homes is likely to include drywall collapse, electrical wiring nightmares and foundation instability, as well as the distinct possibility of mold and disease left over by the mixture of stormwater, wastewater and mud that washed into the patios and basements.

It can be argued that a rain event such as the one that hit Logan County over those several days last week was once in a lifetime occurrence. However, the city had a similar episode – and similar flooding problems – the first week in May of this year. And the retaining wall on the south end of Michigan St. was built less than a decade ago in 2019 after what was then called a once-in-a-lifetime rain event.

Michigan Pond was already a reality seven years ago, as the city acknowledged when it kicked up to build the retaining wall.

When the city approved and encouraged the building of the Lake Avenue addition over half-a-century ago, it was envisioned that the expansion would eventually extend to Ludlow Road/ County Road 1. So it was, too, with the developments which started with Whispering Pines to reach east to T.R. 179 and beyond.

But as it was made abundantly clear following last week’s torrential rains, long-term planning for the Maris Park and Ludlow Ridge projects came up short.

In their rush to approve and initiate these developments, the council and administration at that time effectively let the projects slide without proper attention being made to what was to be done with the water – both storm and waste – that would be displaced by the new housing, leaving the current council and administration holding the bag.

True, the Liberty Landing and the Detrick property were annexed into the city with the encouragement and backing of the present administration and council, but ground has yet to be broken on either of these developments.

Those who now are in office are taking the heat for their predecessors lack of foresight when it came to Maris Park, and to a lesser extent, Ludlow Ridge and would be well advised to learn from those mistakes.

That the city is in need of new housing is a given. Visit the Logan County Auditor’s website and check out the GIS map of the city. It will show that homes built in these developments are selling like Bud Light on 10-cent beer night. A so-called “lack of affordability” seems not to be a problem.

But in an ironic twist, a twist that is being paid for by residents throughout the city, the present administration and council now has a roadmap of what not to do when houses start going up – and go up they will – on both the southeast and southwest corners of the city.

Prior to the first yard of concrete being poured for a new home, the flooding problems that will come with the projects in all of the areas noted above need to be addressed first and foremost, and those developers who are so keen to build these new homes should be footing the bill.

Should houses start being built on the Detrick property tomorrow and Bellefontaine has significant rainfall the following day, the only option for any kind of emergency services (fire, medical, police) to reach the area is Plumvalley Street, which cannot in any sense be characterized as a main artery of the city.

Should Plumvalley Street also be out of commission for whatever reason during such an event, the Detrick property would become completely isolated from anything that uses four-wheeling transportation, and I don’t see the city shelling out to buy a helicopter anytime soon.

While it may come as cold comfort to those who suffered through the flooding, lessons learned from this may prove to be the silver lining to the increased growth of the city by forcing the administration and council, as especially the developers, to address these challenges prior to foundations being laid.

To paraphrase Poor Richard, an ounce of prevention will be worth several million gallons worth of cure. ■