Long-Running Stormwater Erosion Issue Plagues York County Farmowner | Farming and Agricultural News | lancasterfarming.com

Irvin Allott shows on June 24, 2024 how the grate on the inlet box installed by the township gets blocked by debris which causes stormwater to flood over the road and onto his property on the other side.

FELTON, Pa. — Irvin Allott had enough.

Stormwater coming off a neighbor’s sloped field and running across the road onto his property was eroding the foundation of his barn and the hillside beside it.

For decades he appealed to township officials to fix it and tried various ways on his own property to alleviate the stormwater surges.

Stormwater eroded away this end of Irvin Allott's barn foundation, seen in 2012 prior to its reconstruction.

By 2019, Allott decided his only option was to install an inlet box himself to help carry the water under the road and direct it to an area where it would do no damage.

Even though the box he put in was outside of the Chanceford Township right-of-way and on the property of a neighbor who gave him permission to do so, Allott soon found himself facing criminal charges from the township for destruction of township property.

While he was at work installing the inlet box — on a Sunday morning, he said, because of less traffic — a township supervisor showed up and called the state police.

The township claimed the inlet box he installed damaged the original one, but Allott maintained the township’s box was already compromised by faulty work during installation, and that he had caused no damage to the structure.

Allott said he has spent more than $20,000 in legal fees on the matter so far. While he’s been able to get the criminal charges dropped, a later civil case the township brought against him is still pending.

Irvin Allott on June 24, 2024 shows the end of his barn where he had to rebuild the foundation because of stormwater damage.

Originally from Chester County, Allott purchased the 122-acre farm at 1831 Trinity Road in 1986. A retired construction contractor, he rents the cropland to a hay farmer.

The stormwater problem, he said, started in 1994 when the township rebuilt the road incorrectly and installed an inlet box that was inadequate for the amount of runoff.

Within a year after the road was reconstructed, a thunderstorm plugged the inlet causing water to run across the road onto Allott’s farm and wash “a lot of stones away,” he said.

Across Trinity Road from Irvin Allott's farm, the township's inlet box is invisible underneath the stormwater it failed to accommodate during a heavy rain in 2021 after the township removed Allott's inlet box.

Since then, “it’s been a whole long series of different floods and storm damage,” he said.

The 30-year conflict stems from what Allott sees as an unwillingness of the local government to fix subpar construction on the project.

“I’ve registered many complaints over the years,” said Allott, who served on the township’s planning commission from 1990-1998. “The township refuses to accept that they’ve done faulty work here.”

The township did not respond to several requests to comment for this article.

On a June 24 Lancaster Farming visit to the site, Allott showed multiple methods he had tried to divert stormwater over the years.

These included installing a series of trench drains, building a swale, improving an inlet box, and lowering a farm lane — all on his own property.

Trench drainage in 2013 that Irvin Allott installed on his property in an attempt to divert stormwater from damaging his barn.

Allott said the township, in response to his complaints, also made some attempts to alleviate the problem by cutting back the bank on the side of the road the water was coming from and lowering the grate on the inlet box.

But all of those measures still weren’t enough to hold back the stormwater.

Allott said he had worked as a contractor on various projects that involved stormwater management and has experience installing inlet boxes and drain pipes.

The inlet box he put in was set higher and just behind the existing one installed by the township. The purpose was to catch excess stormwater that was bypassing the township box.

Allott pointed to how the township inlet often becomes blocked by vegetation that accumulates on the top grate.

A review of the site in 2012 by the York County Conservation District mentioned the importance of keeping the grate and roadside clear, while noting that the fixing of any problems was the jurisdiction of the local government.

Mark Flaharty, ag resource conservationist, wrote in his review 12 years ago that “the ability for runoff water to drain away would be impacted by maintenance of the grate on the inlet box and buildup of grass along the road.”

Allott said the inlet he installed in 2019 remained in place for about two years and did the job he wanted, preventing runoff from damaging his property.

“It worked,” he said.

Irvin Allott on June 24, 2024 shows his inlet box and the depth at which he installed it.

Then, in 2021, the township came and took it away. According to Allott, a property subdivision on the neighbor’s farm had recently given the township an opportunity to expand its right-of-way along the road.

When the township removed Allott’s inlet box, they replaced their original box with a similar one. The new box soon proved to be less than adequate with the ongoing problem of debris buildup during heavy rains, he said.

A late-summer rainstorm less than three months after Allott’s inlet was removed again resulted in stormwater damage on his property, he said.

After being found guilty in district court of destroying township property, he appealed the criminal charges, which were dropped in July of 2022 with the civil case still pending.

He supplied decades worth of evidence to the township, including photos that document his attempts to fix the problem and of rebuilding the barn foundation that had been eroded by stormwater.

“I’ve been taking evidence photos for a long time,” he said.

Allott was asked to give a deposition in the township solicitor’s office in September of 2022.

Since then, the township has taken no action on the case, and Allott remains concerned about stormwater.

He has spent more than $50,000 so far on stormwater mitigation and repairs, he said, money he hopes to eventually recoup from the township.

“The substandard work has damaged and devalued my property without compensation,” he said.

A statement prepared by his attorney, Christopher Ferro, in response to the original charges asserts that Allott “had provided the solution to this longstanding problem at no cost to the township and also removed the formation of ice in freezing temperatures.”

Water can be seen running across Trinity Road toward Irvin Allott's property in this winter photo from the late 1990s.

At the end of June, a rainstorm once again plugged the inlet grate, Allott said. The township came and cleared the debris, but the source of the problem remains.

After three decades of dealing with the stormwater issue, Allott is still waiting for a resolution.

“I think I have gone the extra mile many times,” he said.

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Staff Reporter

Dave Lefever is a staff reporter for Lancaster Farming. He canbe reached at [email protected]

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