I have been waiting for over 2 years and my property gets flooded ever time it rains hard. I have contacted the dept responsible, they have come out and looked at it, ordered and engineer study and have done absolutely nothing. My councilperson pays lip service and accomplishes nothing. I have stopped paying my storm water bills. Parts of the asphalt road has been washed away due to the water jumping the culvert blockages and wearing down the road itself...the city doesn't care.

I don't think it's that the city doesn't care, it's that we are low priority area given that there are not many of us who are effected by a problem that is going to be very expensive to fix properly. All of the water that comes rushing down the creek in a heavy rain from the pool property is too much for the existing capacity of the drainage ditch. Unfortunately the neighborhood really suffers from poor site planning from back in the 50's when it was Chesterfield County. I suspect the city doesn't want to spend the money on a temporary fix and the lack of action is due to them planning a way to address the larger drainage network. The only thing we can do is keep complaining to the city and Kathy Graziano's office. Hopefully everyone in the neighborhood will start contacting them too.

Your concern has been received and forwarded to the Department of Public Utilities (CRS# 20020930927) so that proper inspection and handling can take place accordingly. If you have any further questions, please feel free to contact us at 804-646-7000. We appreciate your communication that helps us in “Building The Best Richmond” together.

I could better understand your position if it were not for the stormwater taxes the City began collecting several years ago. This provides the funds for the very sort of improvements we are in need of. I live at a dead end that has to process stormwater from my neighborhood as well as a portion of Cherokee Road. I am sure the engineers determined the volume of water overwhelms the existing system. And, I am sure the funding is available. So, if our neighborhood is simply a low priority and the resources are being diverted to other areas, I can only conclude they don't care, as in don't care about our neighborhood as much as they do others. Graziano's office has been aware of my situation for over a year and made a few phone calls on my behalf to the City Dept in charge of stormwater...got no results and dropped the ball. My properties encompass 8 acres and three houses...which is well reflected in my annual property taxes...so, if the stormwater tax is not exactly for the more expensive fixes to inadequate stormwater drainage...what are they for?

I am very unhappy with the condition of Bradwill Rd due to the storm water drainage problems. Do you have information about all citywide funding priorities for storm water management? I would really appreciate learning more. After contacting Ms. Graziano's office via email and getting the usual answer that she would be reaching out to the city dept. of public utilities, I called the department and to put in a request with the engineer in charge to help me understand the issues they are dealing with regarding the watershed system that is the source of the flooding problem. I would be relieved to learn that there is a straight forward fix to this and that the inaction is simply an example of constituent neglect on the part of Ms. Graziano's office. Going forward, I will be happy to share anything I learn with you and the rest of the neighborhood. Perhaps we can mobilize all of the taxpayers effected by this to press for answers and an eventual solution from the city.

I wish I could provide you with any legit information. However, after filing my complaint in January 2012, the city sent a stormwater manager to reviews the situation. Then he informed me an engineering study would take place within a few weeks/months to determine the water volume and then a capital request based on what had to be done would be filed. I was asked whether I would provide an easement so that the system of drainage could be established through my property in order to tie the stormwater at my dead end to the larger system at the other end of my property...I agreed. Due to the size of my property, the city would have to install a culvert down approximately 600 feet so the water would actually have a place to go. And, this work would also require fixing the culverts down feed the water to my property. Nothing happened over the next year and my inquiries went unanswered. That is when I called into Graziano's office and another year has passed without anything happening. I called again two days ago and was assured of a response within 24 hours...again nothing. Apparently the turnover in this department is significant and the ball gets perpetually dropped.
Now I suppose it is on to the Mayor's Office, the City Council and the newspaper in order to become enough of a squeaky wheel to get action. I have personally spent almost $100K on a stormwater retention and treatment pond on the other side of my 6 acres to deal with the water on that side of my property and this doesn't seem to make a difference to the City.

5/22/2014 - Thanks so much j.gorde, savagepix, & Melissa Pritchard for your communication with Richmond City Government online. At this moment this matter is still before DPU Mgmt (20020930927) for consideration and potential action.

We appreciate your communication that helps us in “Building The Best Richmond” together – rtt

Contractor has paved the roadside ditch and made improvements upstream to improve drainage and prevent erosion along the street as of 7/01/15.