The Paint Branch Wild Card
September 19th, 2006 | by David Daddio | Published in General College Park | 6 Comments
The Diamondback reported last week, in a bizarrely similar pair of articles, that the Michael Company (with many development projects in the area) donated nearly $250,000 to the Anacostia Watershed Society to repair and prevent further erosion on Paint Branch Creek. The creek begins north of College Park in the Beltsville Agricultural Research Station and runs directly behind the west side of Route 1 starting at Jiffy Lube and continuing on until it passes under the road at UMD’s North Gate. The stream and its constantly eroding banks make for narrow lots and uncertain conditions for developers seeking the build multistory condos and office buildings on the streamside of Route 1. State Sen. Giannetti estimated the total effort would take $1.5 million and is asking for $250,000 from the university to install rocks, retention ponds, and retaining walls to slow the flow of the water. Similar efforts are already underway around campus.
The erosion is a natural process but it is hastened by impermeable, unforested surfaces (like agriculture and parking lots) that quickly channel storm water into the creek. You may have noticed this around the University View after a major storm.
>9/7/06 Diamondback “Paint Branch Creek to get funds”
>9/5/06 Diamondback “Developer contributes to stream restoration“
September 19th, 2006 at 6:04 pm (#)
“State Sen. Giannetti estimated the total effort would take $1.5 million and is asking for $250 *million* from the university to install rocks, retention pnds, and retaining walls to slow the flow of water.”
Should that be thousand? If not, I’d love to see what they plan to do with millions of dollars of rocks.
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September 19th, 2006 at 6:12 pm (#)
Thanks for the catch, we just fixed the typo.
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September 19th, 2006 at 7:15 pm (#)
Good move on behalf of the developer to appease potential objectors….!
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September 20th, 2006 at 2:16 am (#)
It’s good to see something beind done to preserve some of our natural ammenities. Has anything been mentioned about a similar creek on the south side of campus that bisects Guildford Road?
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September 20th, 2006 at 3:23 am (#)
It’s good to see you guys talking about issues impacting the parts of College Park that don’t immediately sound Knox Road and Frat Row.
The creek that runs near University View and through Paint Branch Trail has terrible issues with flooding, particularly with regard to the bike trail that runs under Route 1 next to the CSIC parking lot. During harsh rains, the bike path has at least an inch of water running across it. Something should be done to divert that water elsewhere to keep cyclists safer during inclement weather.
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September 20th, 2006 at 3:42 am (#)
I don’t think that throwing up erosion walls, and dumping tons of rocks along creekbeds is a real solution. The problem is the amount of impervious surface located in the watershed, if things like rain gardens, or stormwater wetlands could be installed to slow the runoff down to something approaching a normal level, that would be the best solution, unless someone wants to pay to repave everything with permeable asphalt and concrete.
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