Homeowners in The Ridge are one step closer to seeing the improperly built drainage in the public areas of their development be corrected.
The housing development, just off Main Street at S.E. 37th Street, was finalized and accepted into the City in 2008, but had improperly constructed drainage.
After becoming aware of the problems, the City began working with an engineering firm to study the area. They came up with a corrective action plan, placed it out to bid, and the Council accepted the low bidder during their July 8, 2024, meeting.
Mayor Karl Nail said, “The City accepted the (developer’s) plans when they were presented, and we should not have. This was in a transition time for the City in staffing, and we made a mistake.” Nail said the Council and City staff, who are now in place, determined they had to go in and make it right for the area’s homeowners.
“When complete, the citizens who live there and the City will have a better development than what was left by the developer,” Nail said. “We hate to spend money on these improvements, but we have to make sure the roads and infrastructure are in place and there’s no adverse impact there.”
During a City meeting last year, City Manager Kevin Self explained that there were a multitude of drainage issues in both Phase 1 and Phase 2 of The Ridge. Self said in Phase 1, there were drainage ditches that might have been filled in during the original construction.
“Water is sheet flowing from east to west across people’s properties, but it’s not flowing in any specific channels,” he said. “Drainage ponds have not been created like they should have been. The way it was constructed, it’s not allowing proper drainage.”
Self said Phase 2 has some drainage channels which are not in their correct locations, and many were to have concrete channels and did not receive them. He said the flow is just not in the correct direction.
The City hired Civil & Environmental Consultants, Inc. (CEC) of Oklahoma City to prepare remediation plans and specifications for repair, and a bid that could go to contractors. The bid went out earlier this year and was opened in June. The City Council approved the low bidder, of two very different bids.
A CEC engineering estimate showed a potential cost of $772,732.71. The low bid, from C-P Integrated Services, Inc., was approved for a total of $771,000. A second bid by Downey Contracting, which was not approved, was nearly double at $1,490,037.
Improvements to be made at The Ridge Phase 1 include detention pond reconstruction, regrading of bar ditches, culvert reconstruction, trickle channel construction, and end treatment construction for an existing box culvert. Nail said the City’s plans include another phase of remediation in the area, but this is the start.
