Workers got 27 feet into a drain-repair project on Washington St. before they had to stop.
“There’s a 15-inch diameter piece of concrete that’s flowed downstream from the failure and gotten crossways in the sewer. The only way to fix it is with excavation,” said Gary Tressel of Hubble, Roth, and Clark engineering firm at Monday’s Clarkston City Council meeting.
Clarkston won in court easement rights this past Wednesday to fix the collapsed drain on homeowner Norm Cristea’s property.
Independence Township Water and Sewer contractors removed trees and dug test holes, discovering a blockage north of the property, upstream from the catch basin on the Clarkston Mills property.
“They came back and tried to go again to the north and were unable to do that,” said Tressel, ,who called Tri-County Power Rodding to clear it, but they couldn’t.
“The upstream manhole is not available to drop the cable down and pull the rodder through,” he said. “They tried to do a sewer jet through it and weren’t able to get through.”
With new obstacles, the city may have to get an easement agreement from Clarkston Mills property owner Ed Adler, who is in Florida, after all. His partner, Bob Roth, who has not seen any site plans, agreed to meet with all involved to get the drain fixed.
“We appreciate everyone’s cooperation,” said Mayor Stephen Arkwright. “It is a serious issue and we do need to move on it.”