Highland Heights Officials, Residents Frustrated About Flooding

Mayor Scott Coleman said he's making progress on getting the county to make good on promises to address flooding problems in his city.

"There's been a lot of frustration on our end," he said at Tuesday's City Council meeting.

Coleman said the county has committed to a sewer relining project on Jefferson Drive and should seek bids for the work in the next two weeks. Construction is also expected to take place next year on a sewer lining project on Radford Drive.

However, that still leaves other problem areas to be addressed on Highland, Lander and Wilson Mills roads.

County officials had said backflow devices would be installed on Highland to provide temporary relief, but that was denied in recent discussions.

"They basically said they never promised to do it," Coleman said.

Coleman and Service Director Thom Evans took the matter up with Bonita Teeuwen, county director of public works, who promised to have a plan of action for Lander and Wilson Mills roads by the end of today.

"Ms. Teeuwen pretty much agreed that the problem has gone on too long," Coleman said.

That sentiment was certainly shared by residents who showed up at the meeting to complain about flooded basements. Silvio Berardinelli of Highland Road said he had no problems when he had a septic tank, but paid $6,000 in sewer assessments and started flooding.

"Since then, it's been a nightmare," he said. "When it rains, we can't sleep. I demand some action."

Three Lander Road residents also asked to see action sooner rather than later to solve problems that results in their basements flooding four times in the past six months.

"This is the first year that I've flooded four times," Antonio Soriano said. "I think you have a broken line across the street in Mayfield Village."

He added that it was up to city officials to get something done.

"The county is not going to listen to three people on Lander Road, they're going to listen to the city," he said.