I-Team: Durham business owner, NCDOT talk long-term solution to drainage problem
DURHAM (WTVD) -- A business owner is looking for a long-term solution to a drainage problem in Durham that has left him dealing with costly flood damage year after year.
Scott Howell owns Nana's restaurant on University Drive. He said with the last big rain storm on July 21, the NCDOT-maintained culvert across the street from his business started to collapse.
Owner of neighboring Bull City Craft, Franklin Santana said it's only a matter of time before the poor drainage affects his store too.
"It's gonna come through Nana's, and it's gonna come through here, and it's gonna damage not just us, but all the other businesses that are around," he said.
ABC11 was there in 2005 when Howell first realized there was a problem under his building. A sinkhole in the parking lot would only be the beginning of a years-long dispute over who should pay to fix the drainage system.
"The DOT came by and said it's none of their property," Howell told ABC11 in 2005. "The city came by and gave it a job number. They even said it's our responsibility in the beginning until they saw the magnitude of it. Then all of a sudden it's not their responsibility."
Durham city leaders said the source of the problem, a smaller culvert behind Nana's restaurant, is on Howell's private property. The small pipes that run under the building are his as well, and if he wants to alleviate the flood, he has to cover the cost.
ABC11 went back to our archives and found in the last four years, Nana's has flooded five times, including last week; that's when Howell reached his boiling point, watching the water level rise and the culvert across the street break down.
"DOT doesn't really get on the same page you know until it's a complete disaster," Howell said on July 21. "Well now, I don't know about you guys, but to me, that's a complete disaster."
"If we were to move forward with our project, it does no good without him moving forward with his project because he still has the water restriction on his property," said Brandon Jones, Div. Maintenance Engineer.
NCDOT engineers met with Howell Wednesday and said if he pays to widen the culvert and pipes on his property, they will match that on their end, bringing the pipe system together under University Drive.
It's a solution they say will keep the water moving in the right direction for good. Jones did not immediately know how much the project would cost the DOT or Howell, or how long it would take to get the funding for it.
