Letter: Tanyard Brook and Robin Rug fiascos

Posted 9/1/22

To the editor:

Bristol’s reluctance to accept that storm waters cannot be wished away has caused harm and raised taxes in dealing with Tanyard Brook and will do so at Robin Rug. The …

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Letter: Tanyard Brook and Robin Rug fiascos

Posted

To the editor:

Bristol’s reluctance to accept that storm waters cannot be wished away has caused harm and raised taxes in dealing with Tanyard Brook and will do so at Robin Rug. The philosophy that all development should be promoted and that the water problems will disappear, if ignored, has yet to work.

Tanyard Brook was quite adequate in carrying off waters, but the town’s permitting of building in the brook has caused storm waters to wander about, seeking other routes to the consternation of the neighborhood. The simplest and cheapest remedy would have been to remove the permitted obstructions and clean out the brook for a lasting solution. However, Bristol is now in a third phase, at $3.8 million, in its attempt to cure this town-made problem. The three phases and past work adds up to a very expensive bill for the town.

More potential expense from storm waters will arise by allowing the conversion of Robin Rug into an ever escalating number of apartments. This low site was never meant for human occupancy; a point not adequately discussed at the hearings. The site has been flooded and damaged by hurricanes in the past and is even more exposed to destructive blows now. The town’s allowing this project places over 200 people in harm’s way and will almost certainly bind it to costs of maintaining it against flood waters; a liability Bristol can do without.

The town has allowed, and even promoted construction in creeks all around town, always assuming one more would not matter. Remedial costs are never tied to this cause and the same problem keeps happening. Some preventive help would be the requirement that State policies are followed and that the Conservation Commission needs to sign off on all projects for possible flooding and wetland issues. These would come up when I was a member, but the Commission was powerless to act. Meanwhile the town is degraded and the costs mount.

Patrick Barosh
PhD, US Geological Survey, ret.
103 Aaron Ave

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