Geoscience Group, an N.C. engineering firm contracted by Federal Realty Investment Trust that owns Eastgate, released a preliminary report Wednesday on the sources of the flooding and property damage.
In the report, Geoscience engineering consultant and head of water resources Everette Knight highlighted six different drainage concerns and recommended specific actions to mitigate the problems and protect Eastgate tenants from future flooding.
"Eastgate Shopping Center is susceptible to flooding because of its location along Booker Creek," Knight said. "Although the shopping center has some history of flooding, it is reasonable to expect satisfactory protection from the 50-year storm event out of Booker Creek."
Knight cited downstream drainage obstructions from the U.S. 15-501 culvert and the Elliott Road bridges as major contributors to Eastgate's problems with backwater drainage.
But Knight was careful to point out that these conditions were not the only problems contributing to the flooding. Among other concerns listed in the report were inadequate drainage structures within the Eastgate parking lot and potential obstructions in the conduit caused by abandoned utility crossings.
"Federal Realty has committed to proceed expeditiously to improve the parking lot drainage and to repair the culvert," said Jeanne Conner, Federal Realty's chief operating officer for the Mid-Atlantic region. "We will begin this work in early spring with the goal of completing our portion by the end of the summer."
Other actions needed to alleviate flood water problems according to the Geoscience report include increasing the hydraulic capacity of the U.S. 15-501 crossing, possibly relocating Elliott Road, providing a bottom in the Eastgate conduit, improving conditions upstream of the conduit and diverting all minor off-site drainage areas around the shopping center.
"Basically Federal Realty can only commit to do what's on their property line," Knight said.
The rest of the work presumably will fall on the town of Chapel Hill and the N.C. Department of Transportation, Knight said.
