Asbury Plza Drain Hellmer Lette1141 Main Street
Dubuque, IA 52001
Telephone: (563) 557-1885
Facsimile: (563.)557-2335
DAY & HELLMER, P.C.
Attorneys at Law
Please reply to the Dyersville Office
ROBERT L. DAY, JR.
WERNER HELLMER
THOMAS J. STP, AKA, Associate
I37 First Avenue East
P. O. Box 342
Dyersville, IA 52040-0342
Telephone: (563.) 875-9733
Facsimile: (563) 875-8275
August 21, 2003
Mayor Terry Duggan
and Dubuque City Council
City Hall
50 West 13th Street
Dubuque, Iowa 52001
Re: Asbury Plaza Drainage/Soil Erosion Issue
Dear Mayor and Members of the City Council:
Enclosed for your information is correspondence I received from the Iowa Department of
Natural Resources in reference to the Drainage/Soil Erosion Issue at the Asbury Shopping Mall
in Asbury Plaza. The letter was authored by Mr. Clark W. Ott, an Environmental Specialist with
the Iowa Department of Natural Resources Environmental Sc~'vices Division. I note that a copy
of the letter had not been forwarded to you and, therefore, I am submitting it for informational
purposes.
Mr. Ott inspected the Asbury Plaza site on July 17, 2003 and found the following
probl~us:
"The site does not have the required soil stabilization for soil that will not be under
construction for three weeks;
· They are tracking dirt onto the pavement of the mall;
The detention pond was required to be put in place prior to construction beginning;
and,
They are not doing the proper inspections/logging to determine that their pollution
plan ~s addressing problems.
Mr. Ott also stated that a copy of his report and a letter requiring RubloffDevelopment
Group Corporation to come into compliance with the stormwater permit has been forwarded to
this corporation. We will continue to monitor the situation.
I hope that this information will be of assistance to the Dubuque Engineering
Department, which is responsible for reaching design standards for the detention pond to assure
that it meets City requirements.
I appreciate the opportunity to address this issue before the City Council.
WH/bk
cc: Joseph and Judy Riniker
By:
Sincerely,
DAY & HELLMER, P.C.
Wemer Hellmer
COPY,
STATE OF IOWA
THOMAS J. VILSACK, GOVERNOR
SAltY J. PEDERSON, LT. GOVERNOR
DEPARTMENT OF NATURAL RESOURCES
JEFFREY R. VONK, DIRECTOR
July 18, 2003
Wemer hellmer
Day & Hellmer, P.C.
137 First Avenue East
P.O. Box 342
Dyersville, IA 52040-0342
RE:
Drainage/Soil Erosion Issue
Asbury Plaza Shopping Mall, Dubuque, Iowa
NPDES General Permit No. 2, DNR Authorization Number: IA-4771-4612
Dear Mr. Hellmer:
I am the lead environmental specialist for stormwater in our field office. Joe Sanfilippo, our
supervisor, and Mike Wade requested that I review the situation at Asbury Plaza.
On JulyS17th I went {,o the site and found several Problems:
· The site does not have the required soil stabilization for soil that will not be under
construction for three weeks,
· they are tracking dirt onto the pavement of the mall,
· the detention pond was required to be put in place prior to construction beginning, and
* they are not doing the proper inspections/logging to determine that their pollution plan is
addressing problems.
I will be sending a report and letter requiring them to come into compliance with their stormwater
permit.
However, I feel that I must inform you that if the company had. had all practices in place, your
clients may still have received nearly as much water from storms as they did. There are many
limitations on what our stormwater regulations can require. The primary purpose of the rules is
to reduce the amount of material that is being carried along in the water. The department does
not regulate how much water is flowing.
The rules require a detention pond for developments that are greater than 10 acres. The pond
is required to have storage for 3600 cubic feet of water per acre (about a 1 inch rain). Where
the 3600 cubic feet is not attainable, the site must have sediment traps, silt fences or other
sediment controls for all sideslope and downslope boundaries. By the very nature of a
detention pond's design, water will not be stopped, but will be forced to go through a more
constricted point which will hydraulically dam the water. As is indicated by the rules, the
developer is not expected to design controls for rains that are greater than one inch. The city of
Field Office 1,909 West Main Suite 4, Manchester, IA 52057
563/927-2640 FAX 563/927-2075
· Hellmer- Asbury Plaza reply ~ ~ ;~I¢'_ Page 2
Dubuque's Engineering Division is overseeing the design standards for the detention pond to
assure it meets the city's requirements.
Once development has been completed, the department will no longer have requirements on
the facility. Also, as the development is finished there will be less exposed soil to take in rainfall
which will amplify the amount of water that runs off the site from smaller storms.
I have also looked at aerial photographs of the watershed that affects your clients. Asbury
Plaza is only part of the cause of the increase in water runoff. The watershed is becoming more
popular for residences. Every house and street that is added removes that much area for rains
to soak into the ground. Depending on the site the Department of Natural Resources will
require stormwater permits and erosion control, but once the construction is complete, our
department will no longer have stormwater runoff requirements since the exposed soil is
protected. Unfortunately for your clients I only foresee their problem getting worse when it
comes to frequency of high water.
I am enclosing a copy of NPDES General Permit No. 2 for your use. This is the permit required
when soil that is disturbed in a construction activity will exceed one acre for the entire
development.
If you have questions on the stormwater aspect of this situation, please do not hesitate to
contact me. Another stormwater contact would be Joe Griffin in Des Moines. He is the
Department's stormwater coordinator. I contact him when I need interpretations of the rule. He
can be reached at 515-281-7017.
Sincerely,
ENVIRONMENTAL SERVICES DIVISION
Clark W. Ott
Environmental Specialist Senior
c: DNR - Stormwater Coordinator - Des Moines
Robert Dunning, Rubloff Development, 6227 E. Riverside Blvd., Rockford, IL 61114