ASHLAND — A two-acre piece of land off Mifflin Avenue is slated to become the site of a detention pond in the next year to help with flooding in that area.
Ashland City Council accepted the donation of the vacant lot between Miller’s-Hawkins Market and Mifflin Avenue on Tuesday.
Ashland Mayor Matt Miller said the property owner, Premier Housing, and the city have been talking back and forth for more than a year to figure out how to mitigate flooding from an unnamed creek there.
“Over the years, as Claremont Avenue was developed and so on, the drainage from Claremont and that vicinity ultimately would go down to that creek,” Miller said.
During what’s referred to as short-duration, high intensity rainfall — when a lot of rain falls in a short amount of time — Miller said the property fills with water that sometimes ends up on the road.
“Since it’s such a low-lying piece of land, there’s no real way to develop it,” Miller said.
So the property owner eventually decided to donate the land to the city. Miller said it will be the site of a detention pond, which is used to hold water from storm runoff for a temporary time.
Retention basins are designed to hold water permanently.
Miller said the property owner has divulged it intends on developing two parcels behind Gionino’s Pizza in the future.
The mayor said there is no timeline on when the detention pond would be constructed and he didn’t have an estimated cost.
“But likely we’ll get started on it next year,” he said.