Putting the Lake in Lakeside

I think I heard something in the report offered by Engineer Collin Dunn and his colleagues at HLR Engineering to the Fairfield City Council this week. It sounded like water filling a new Lakeside reservoir.

Dunn was asked to report on flooding issues which have plagued Fairfield this summer, a problem exacerbated by over 46 inches of rain. I am not an engineer, but I do not believe there is a system devised to handle four inches of rain in 90 minutes…..and that’s what has happened here. But there were some blockages identified in the city’s drainage system….and the mayor says they are being addressed.

I, for one, would think it nice to have a lake in Lakeside Park. There was one for decades before the Army Corps of Engineers had the dam breached. Since then, it has been designated a wetlands area. That’s a designation which could be changed if the city were willing to trade some property. I don’t think that would be a deal breaker.

Dunn intimated that a new Lakeside reservoir, adequately deep, could help if the city were once again hit with a deluge of rainwater. He promised a complete report for the next council meeting. An official engineering report, saying a lake at Lakeside Park would be an asset to the city’s drainage system, could be used to get a state or federal grant.

An earlier report, from another engineering firm, had the overall cost of restoring Lakeside at around $1.2 million dollars…which seems high. That’s a hefty price tag, but if it truly alleviates persistent flooding in Fairfield, and the aforementioned grants could be secured……I think this is a project I could get behind.