OTSEGO TOWNSHIP, Mich. — An Allegan County man said he is in need of a solution after his driveway and yard recently started flooding.
It comes after the road in front of his house was repaved last summer.
FOX 17 got involved, and now the Allegan County Road Commission is working to help.
"We’re always willing to work with property owners and do what we can," said Allegan County Road Commission Managing Director Craig Atwood.
Harm Vanderveen and his family have lived on South 16th Street in Otsego Township for over 10 years.
He said they never had any problems until now, with one side of his horseshoe driveway completely covered by almost half of a foot of water.
"This is the first year with the snowmelt, and during the summer we didn’t get that much rain. Since the snowmelt and the rain that we are getting, you can see it is like a lake out there now," said Otsego Township resident Harm Vanderveen.
The Allegan County Road Commission confirmed to FOX 17 that roadwork had been done on that road on Aug. 19, 2021.
"It was just a resurfacing project. We put two inches of two asphalt on the top of the asphalt that was already there. It is kind of a standard thing that we do around the county," said Atwood.
Since it has been repaved, Vanderveen said the water has been pooling, a lot.
"What I am worried about is all the water on the driveway. We use that driveway. I am worried that it is going to break the driveway down and make it unusable," said Vanderveen.
An Allegan County man says his driveway and yard recently started flooding.
— Lauren Kummer (@LaurenKummerTV) March 31, 2022
It comes after the road in front of his house was re-paved last summer.@FOX17 got involved and now the Allegan County Road Commission is working to help. pic.twitter.com/mW55FYm9ku
Vanderveen told FOX 17 he called the road commission twice, the Otsego Township supervisor and the drain commission but got nowhere.
The Allegan County Road Commission said they remember taking the call and want to help.
"Our first goal is to make sure the structure, the drain structure, is doing what it's supposed to be doing. That does appear to be the case," said Atwood.
Atwood said they sent out an engineer earlier this week to take pictures, and since then, FOX 17 has helped connect the two to find a solution.
"To find a real solution to the problem, we have to do a little more work, get some survey shots and see what the problem is there," said Atwood.
With more wet weather on the way, the Allegan County Road Commission said they will be sending out a surveyor to take a look. They said the issue could be resolved as early as next week.
FOX 17 will continue to follow and update this story.
