BELFAST - On Tuesday, the City Council is scheduled to hold a work session on “various drainage issues in Belfast.” Behind the innocuous name, the meeting is bit of vindication Seaview Terrace resident Laurie Allen has had in a long time. 

For over two years, Allen has been battling with the city over responsibility for a heavily-used storm water outlet behind her home. For most of that time city officials have ignored her, having reached a decision earlier that whatever problems exist on her property are hers alone. 

Allen has continued to speak her mind at nearly every City Council meeting, mixing deeply researched arguments with emotional pleas and sweeping accusations of corruption at City Hall. Her interactions with the Council and city staff have often been tense, enough so that the city has a police officer attend Council meetings. Still Allen returned week after week, throwing herself into a cause that appeared to have long ago reached a stalemate. 

Last week, however, Councilor Roger Lee offered an opening, suggesting that the city take another look.

“It seems to me that there’s a reasonable case to consider if storm water could be diverted and reach the bay the the least damaging way,” he said.

Allen’s back yard is crossed by a stream that passes between Seaview Terrace and the hospital annex building. Her concerns center on the erosion of her back yard and the potential for flooding from from the waterway. Her case rests on two major questions:

• Whether the waterway is a naturally occurring stream or a man-made drainage ditch. City code regards streams, along with or rivers or the bay, as suitable outlets for storm water drainage regardless of the effect on private property. Dug ditches, however, much like culverts or sewer pipes, must be maintained by the city.

• If newer developments uphill from Seaview Terrace, including the Captain Albert Stevens School have abided by snow removal requirements and whether other unauthorized drainage has significantly increased the amount of water passing behind Seaview Terrace en route to the bay.

Lee called Allen’s allegations of corruption “bogus” — Allen says she has been repeatedly denied access to key public documents — but said the city would benefit from knowing the facts. 

“If the flow of water from the development of the school was intended to go one way and it went another way,” Lee said, “we should know that.”

Councilor Eric Sanders suggested a citywide “inventory” of storm water drainage.

He and City Manager Joe Slocum appeared to have reservations about opening the door to claims from every homeowner with a wet basement. The Council, however, took no action and resolved to hold a work session on the topic, Tuesday, August 26.

Speaking after the meeting, Allen was cautiously optimistic. She was glad there was some movement, but said she also worried that making the inquiry into a citywide project would draw resources away from her area. She also questioned the wisdom on hiring an expert to track the flow of water.

She pointed to a hand drawn map marked with different colored arrows and circles. The chart stood chest-high, and was mounted on a piece of cardboard for display. The edges were worn from many trips to and from City Hall. The symbols showed the flow of water from upland of her home, through specific channels, to the stream in question.

“I went to see a lawyer in Portland,” she said. “‘He said, follow the water, Laurie.’ I said, I don’t want to.”

It turned out to be easier than she thought, and only took two hours, she said. 

A work session on the city’s storm water drainage will be held Tuesday, August 26 at 6 p.m. in the Council Chambers at City Hall.

Ethan Andrews can be reached at news@penbaypilot.com