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Session 1312, Minutes Page 15 July 26, 1982. Mrs. Metcalfe inquired whether any of the changes to be made in the Articles of In- corporation were substantive. Mr. Ollendorff said he had spoken with the attorney who worked on this matter,_ who informed him that the changes were minor, Mrs. Mary Fahey, Assistant Director of Planning, confirmed this statement. Mrs. Metcalfe moved approval. Mrs. Thompson seconded the motion, which carried unanimously. DISCUSSION OF RIVER DES PERES FLOODING Ms Betty Roe, 8069 Hafner Court, addressed the Council concerning the recent flood- ing of Hafner Court, and also a newspaper article which stated that work was being done in Heman Park to protect the swimming pool from flooding. Mrs. Metcalfe re- called that several years ago a study was ;Wade by MSD which concluded that the only permanent solution to alleviate flooding was to widen the River Des Peres, starting downstream and working back upstream. However, the cost of this project was far beyond University City's taxing capacity and will, of necessity, take many years to accomplish. She said that several recent bond issues in support of improving the river had not passed. She noted than Mayor Mooney had spent large amounts of time on this matter, lobbying and trying to ge, funds from various sources to work on the river. She said she was relating all of this so that Ms Roe would understand that people were trying to face and solve this problem, but that it was very diffi- cult because of the amount of money and time ~equired to do the necessary work, add- ing that it would be much cheaper to condemn Hafner Court. Ms Roe said that she had information from MSD which related that protection of the swimming pool in He- man Park was the first priority as far as doing work on the river was concerned. Mr. Ollendorff said that was incorrect. Engineers have advised that the correct way to approach the flooding problem was to start enlarging the channel downstream, which then provides a place for the water to go, If work was started upstream, places which have been flooded in the past would have even worse flooding, since the channel would narrow instead of widen. He noted that the work being done now was in Heman Park, but was approximately one-half mile from the pool, not next to it. He pointed out, as did several councilmembers, that the information in the ar- ticle was misleading. Ms Roe also said that someone had told her that workers on the creek had built some kind of protective wale for themselves which had blocked the creek. Mr. Ollendorff and the Mayor said that was also incorrect. Mayor Mooney said that the River Des Peres has been a problem in the City since the early 1930's, and each administration, when faced with the enormous cost of solving the problems which cause flooding, had simply given up. He said the present admin- istration has started trying to address the problem, but it would take years and literally millions of dollars to accomplish everything that must be done to allevi- ate the flooding. He noted that work was now nearly complete in the area of Vernon and Pennsylvania, where the channel has been greatly widened and the Vernon bridge rebuilt by St. Louis County. Also, as described earlier by Mr. Ollendorff, a re- tention wall is being built in Heman Park. The Mayor said there had been great dif- ficulties with some of the bridges in the City which acted as dams, since there isn't a large enough area under them to pass the volume of water that must go through. He said some maintenance work had been done upstream, specifically at Olive, south and east of Hafner Court, and some other areas, where much debris had been removed from the channel. More of this type of maintenance will be done in the near future.