Riverfront Advice -Where do we go from here?  

October, 2004:  The following is the editorial published in the October TRE by Rebecca Gullixson, Chair of the Riverfront Advisory Committee, along with the text of the letter received by the RAC from John Oakley of DPW.  Also included are copies of documents, referenced in the letter, that the town of RR rec'd back in 1996.  Outlined are the choices our town now has for critical levee maintenance.  We can't stall much longer!!

Click Here or scroll down for the June, 1996 DCAM letter

Click Here to access the DCAM Board Resolution

Click Here to access the June, 1996 DCAM letter as a pdf file

Click Here to access the DCAM Board Resolution as a pdf file

Riverfront Advice -Where do we go from here?   Our choices for Levee maintenance     By Rebecca Gullixson, in collaboration with Sue Mogle                                                    The original group of RAC members made a recommendation in their final report to our previous town board in December 2003, based upon their research and findings over a two year period of, in part, the following:  “Rocky Ripple’s levee needs immediate attention to preserve the level of protection the Town currently enjoys; the bank must be stabilized, as must the toe and slope of the levee, and the top must be made uniformly level.  Long-term solutions for levee repair and/or enhancement are likely to take substantial time to set in motion and implement.  The needed levee preservation and restoration work cannot be postponed.” This town now has two choices for current levee maintenance:   #1. Residents and volunteers do the physical work and the procuring of monies to carry out the work, or  #2. Secure the offered assistance from the City of Indy and the  DPW to maintain the levee under the conditions which have been offered to us.  (I quote the City of Indy’s DCAM letter) “the city must be granted fee simple title to the levee land area at no charge to the City.”  So, what can we do?  First, a bit of history (and some of the roadblocks the current RAC has faced).  In January 2004  our new town board took office, elected in a landslide vote for a mandate of bringing safety from flooding into our town.    Goodrich & Johnson, (G&J) the top vote getters in the election, immediately began to set into motion, the steps necessary to get our town involved again in the Warfleigh Project, while Ms. Gaff-Clark, the lowliest of vote getters, though the most experienced in town board protocol, attempted to thwart the mandate our voters demanded.  Nevertheless, G&J prevailed with the hiring of Irwin Prince, who began immediately to work on behalf of our town’s mandate. In the interim there have been many changes in the composition of the RAC membership.   In June I accepted the responsibility of Chairman of the current RAC, whose membership stands at five.  In July 2004 our Town board meeting featured with officials from DPW & the Army Corps to discuss our options with us.   We were informed that we could not be a part of the Warfleigh Project, but that we could begin the work of being involved in our own Flood Damage Reduction Project (FDRP).  Knowing that the constraints of getting such a project going would take 5 - 7 years, the City/DPW again offered to help us out with our current levee maintenance in the interim, providing we followed the conditions set for us by DCAM in 1996.  At the July meeting I introduced myself to these officials as the Chair of the RAC and requested of Ms. Gaff-Clark that she keep me informed of her correspondence, progress and findings with these agencies, to further the efficiency of the RAC’s work.    Late in July I sent a letter to these agency officials, but received no replies.   In August I spoke with Carlton Ray of DPW who suggested that residents send letters to our state representatives in mass regarding the new FDRP for our town.  Mr. Ray also mentioned that Ms. Gaff-Clark was communicating with the Army Corps about the possibility of them providing some interim maintenance to our current levee.  To date I’ve had no communication from Ms. Gaff-Clark in any form.  Recently Mr. Ray referred me to John Oakley of DPW.  Mr. Oakley informed me that though he had received my letter, he had been given to understand that all communications regarding Rocky Ripple would be handled solely by Ms. Gaff-Clark, therefore he didn’t think it was necessary to respond to my letter.  Apparently Ms. Gaff-Clark doesn't see the importance of the RAC staying informed.   With lines of communication straightened out, he then sent me a letter with attached documents regarding DPW’s  willingness to provide interim maintenance on our current levee.   That letter is reprinted below and can also be viewed on our website along with the attached documents, at www.therippleeffect.net  on the RAC page.  To sum, the letter states that "the City was not responsible to maintain the Rocky Ripple levee under conditions that existed then and appear to exist today - private ownership, encroachments and access limitations.   (in order to meet the conditions for the city/DPW to assist with levee maintenance) . . . the city must be granted fee simple title to the levee land area at no charge to the City.  Please be advised that the grant of an easement or easements does not satisfy the required conditions. “ If the RAC wants to continue their efforts, I recommend that they seek title to the necessary properties, as the City does not maintain non-standard flood works on privately held land."  (Full text of the letter printed below). Now we're back to the recommendation made by RAC members to our previous town board:  “Rocky Ripple’s levee needs immediate attention to preserve the level of protection the Town currently enjoys; the bank must be stabilized, as must the toe and slope of the levee, and the top must be made uniformly level.  Long-term solutions for levee repair and/or enhancement are likely to take substantial time to set in motion and implement.  The needed levee preservation and restoration work cannot be postponed.”  The current RAC used this recommendation as a guide line in the May and June meetings to come up with a workable plan.  But in July we were immediately faced with the setback of Johnson’s resignation and attendance at the July meeting by agency officials providing new levee information.  We lost even more valuable time when Eric Bucy,  newest member of the RAC and strongly supported by Ms. Gaff-Clark, perjured himself in an orchestrated attempt by levee opponents to acquire the vacated board member position by falsely posing as a republican.  Some quick thinking and action on the part of legitimate VOTERS who really CARE about the mandate for a new levee set the record straight with the Marion County Republican Central Committee, pointing out the fact that Eric Bucy   wasn’t even registered to vote in our town!   At the urgings of many residents, Danny Orr, with some reluctance, accepted the responsibility of this position and was appointed to the town board at the August meeting.                                                                 At this point the RAC’s work seems to have ground to a halt.  It is time for the RAC to resume work with a clear goal and the full support from ALL town board members that the majority of voters here demanded.  This brings us to our current situation:  this town has two choices for current levee maintenance.   #1. Residents and volunteers do the physical work and the procuring of monies to carry out the work, or #2.  (I quote the City of Indy’s DCAM letter) “the city must be granted fee simple title to the levee land area at no charge to the City” so that the City/DPW can do the proffered maintenance for us. The first choice is unfeasible.  At the October board meeting a motion was made that the current levee be classified as a Green Space (and it does fall under the legal definition of green space ) and that the Parks & Green Space Committee, joined by current members of the RAC,  take over and implement the recommendations set forth by the original RAC,  for a number of reasons.  The P&GSC was formed by the previous board, it’s membership and support group reflecting a clear majority of those residents who are opposed to a new levee and many of the members, Ms Gaff-Clark included, live on Riverview Dr, 54th St and Ripple Rd property.  This is a group of members and supporters who enjoy and are enthused about doing ’good works’ for our town and they have already established contacts with agencies that provide grants.  Our current levee desperately NEEDS some of those ‘good works’, much more than the town needs rubber mulch in Hohlt Park, designative plant specie signs, an identity for Fountain Park, a deck/dock or the newly proposed $9K project for more landscaping to connect the town hall with Wahpihani Park or a “play experience” in Peace Park!  $9K would provide a LOT of maintenance on the levee!  But the most important reason for making this suggestion was because, if it weren’t for the 30 riverfront property owner's opposition to the new levee, the City of Indy would do this work for us at NO COST!  Unfortunately, there was an overwhelming objection to this proposed motion, primarily by those same persons who live on the river and have supported the parks, and vehemently supported by the gavel wielding Ms. Gaff-Clark, complete with melodramatic protestations to the effect that THIS IS WAY TOO MUCH WORK,  IT DOESN’T SOUND LIKE FUN, IT’S TOO GARGANTUAN A PROJECT AND OUR COMMITTEE WASN’T FORMED TO DO THIS, WE’LL CHANGE THE NAME TO JUST PARKS COMMITTEE, WE ONLY WANT TO WORK ON PARKS!  Meanwhile Ms G-C rambled on about the inefficiency of the RAC Chairman, circumventing the issue of importance by casting ‘blame.’  Of course this motion wasn’t seconded this time, it was tabled…..it’s difficult to respond decisively to all that passion when the dramatic gavel wielder is arguing in favor of her special interest group!  If the scale of the project ( current levee maintenance) is too much to be undertaken by residents, you can’t force residents to become volunteers, so we MUST actively pursue other options.    The second choice, “granting of fee simple title to the levee land area to the city at no charge to the City", to take advantage of the financial assistance and professional skilled engineers of the City/DPW, is our only workable option.  The Town of Rocky Ripple already owns the levee north of the town hall and can give clear title to that part of the levee to the City.  The 30 property owners south of the town hall now need to offer clear title to the levee on their properties so that the City of Indy will take over this maintenance, thereby providing us a maximum degree of safety until a new levee is built.   I’d like to say to our town board members that you have a responsibility to do everything you can to fulfill the mandate upon which you were elected or appointed into this position of leadership.  If we have board sanctioned committees in this town, the first and foremost priority should be this mandate.  It doesn’t matter how much people love Parks Improvements, a flooded town with parks, paved patios, celtic sitting walls surrounding flower beds and deck/docks……. is just a lake.  If that work is repugnant to the strongly supported membership of the Parks & Greenspace Committee, we must pursue the second choice.  But work on maintaining the levee MUST BE DONE AND CANNOT BE POSTPONED.   To those residents who elected Goodrich & Johnson on the mandate of flood control in our town and those residents who just as vehemently demanded that Danny Orr replace Johnson rather than allow Eric Bucy and his cronies to further stall work on the levee , I say to you, you really must follow thru with your decision by attending your town board meetings in SUPPORT of Goodrich and Orr.    If you residents who are proponents of a new levee and  current levee maintenance are SERIOUS, you really need to get active in support of your community and the leaders you voted into office.  If you take a close look at the members who make up all of our town associations and committee’s, with the exception of the Vets, you’ll find that most of the membership is made up of those folks who are opposed to the new levee.  

Get active in support of Goodrich & Orr…...unless you are willing to passively let our town become a lake.

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Ms. Gullixson - This is in follow-up to our phone conversation of 10/11/04.  For your information and reference, I am forwarding two documents related to the maintenance of the Rocky Ripple levee.  These have been previously provided to Mr. Irwin Prince, Counsel for the Town, earlier this year. 

One document is the DCAM Board Resolution referenced in the included 6/20/96 letter.  The resolution established that the City was not responsible to maintain the Rocky Ripple levee under conditions that existed then and appear to exist today - private ownership, encroachments and access limitations.

The 6/20/96 letter, resulting from the Board Resolution, from our Department (then DCAM, currently DPW) was in response to the Rocky Ripple Town Board's request for the City to perform maintenance of the levee.  As you'll note the letter sets out certain conditions for the City to assume this responsibility.  These conditions are still applicable, especially since the creation of the Marion County Stormwater Management District.  More specifically, the ordinance that established the District provides that the District is tasked with maintaining and improving "all facilities, including combined sewers, structures and natural water courses under the ownership and/or subject to the control of the department of public works."  As a privately held facility, the Rocky Ripple levee does not meet this criteria.

During our conversation, you mentioned that the Rocky Ripple Riverfront Advisory Committee (RAC) was in the process of working to secure easements from the private property owners in order to provide access for DPW staff to maintain the levee.  As the 6/26/96 letter states under conditions #1 and #5, the city must be granted fee simple title to the levee land area at no charge to the City.  Please be advised that the grant of an easement or easements does not satisfy the required conditions.  If they RAC wants to continue their efforts, I recommend that they seek title to the necessary properties, as the City does not maintain non-standard flood works on privately held land.

In closing, please feel free to contact me if you have any questions about the documents provided.  

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June, 1996 DCAM letter:

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DCAM Board Resolution 1996:

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Riverfront Advisory Committee minutes- June 22, 2004

Attendees:  Cathy Hurt, Danny Orr, Becky Gullixson, John Atkinson, Don Royer, Eric Bucy        Eric Bucy expressed interest in joining the committee.  There was some discussion on how membership in the committee would be handled and if it should be limited to a certain number of people.  Since the town board has already indicated that membership is not open to anyone, new members will have to be approved by the board.  The committee decided to not set a limit on the number of members at this time.  We would like to add a few more members to the committee as it stands now.  Eric was welcomed to the committee (subject to board veto).  His e-mail address is reserb1@yahoo.com  Becky Gullixson was elected chairperson.  It was decided that the committee would strive for consensus, but decisions would ultimately be made by majority.  A quorum was defined as the people present at the meeting when the vote is taken.   We still need a mission statement.  “To seek ways to shore up the current levee” was suggested and generally agreed upon.  The specific wording was not.  Becky said that she would come up with a misssion statement and a plan by the next meeting.  Action:  Becky to start drafting a mission statement.  Danny stated that he will continue to do all he can to fight the canal wall and that his work in this area will be completely separate from the riverfront committee.  We discussed removing large trees on top of the levee.  It has been indicated that the Department of Public Works might be able to help us with this.  Action:  Becky to call the DPW and see if she can find out more about tree removal.  We need to develop sources of funding.  There may be a line item in the Rocky Ripple budget for donations for riverfront improvement.  We need to find out what the guidelines are for using this money and modify them if necessary so that people will know what their money will be used for.  We may be able to get some money from grants, but grants may require us to match funds.  Action:  Cathy to research grants.  A town ordinance banning structures on the levee was suggested.  It would have to have a grandfather clause for existing structures.  Action:  Danny to start drafting the ordinance.  It was also suggested that the town board could put pressure on the permitting office downtown to stop approving new structures on the levee.  Action:  John to research what structures on the levee have been permitted in the last few years.  Euonymus, also called wintercreeper, has been suggested as a good ground cover plant for the levee.  This plant is indeed a good cover, but it is also an exotic invasive plant in Indiana.  IPS has even awarded an American Eagle grant to a group that removed wintercreeper & planted native species on riverbanks.  We should look into what native species we might use instead of wintercreeper.  Eric volunteered to scout the levee for places that we could clear with volunteer labor.  Our next meeting will be Tuesday, July 27, 7:30pm.    minutes- July 27, 2004 Attendees:  Danny Orr, Cathy Hurt, Becky Gullixson, Don Royer, John Atkinson -The group decided that meeting minutes from the past meeting would not be read.  Becky handed out  a summary of the last meeting and a rough agenda for the current meeting.  Becky included a preliminary mission statement in the meeting agenda.  As a lot of things regarding the levee have changed since the last riverfront committee meeting (see minutes from the July town board meeting), it was decided to wait to see if our role has changed before we adopt a mission statement.  Also included in the information Becky handed out was a list of native ground covers available from JF New.  Danny brought up the idea of banning structures on the levee at the last board meeting.  He was told that this is a zoning issue and not under the jurisdiction of the town board.  -Cathy found that a Lake & River Enhancement grant (LARE) available through the DNR will pay for engineering feasibility studies, up to $100,000 for a specific project.  She will find out more about this grant.  -The possibility of getting a Keep Indiana Beautiful grant for removing honeysuckle & planting ground cover was raised.  -The committee discussed how to approach property owners along the river regarding brush removal.  It was decided that we would first ask homeowners to see who would like our help.  Action:  Becky to draft a letter to homeowners to ask if they would like us to remove brush on their part of the levee.  -We need a logistical plan for brush removal- What order to do things?  What to do with the brush?  We also need a maintenance plan.  Our next meeting will be Tuesday, September 28, 2004.  There will not be an August meeting.