Council hears updates on stormwater projects; residents press for ditch maintenance and mowing

City staff updated the Park City Council on ongoing stormwater and ditch improvement projects and answered resident concerns about ditch maintenance and mowing.

The public forum included a request from a resident for a crosswalk at 60th Street and East Parkview and several comments from a resident who reported an overgrown ditch behind her home and asked when it would be mowed. Staff responded that the city’s multi‑phase stormwater master plan includes about 15 projects citywide; phase 2 work includes box culvert installations at East Parkview and Hartford and channel shaping. The contractor is smoothing ditches, installing concrete liners in some reaches and constructing drop structures to improve maintenance and control flows.

Staff acknowledged wet weather and the discovery of shallow water lines that require lowering, which can affect the schedule but also present an opportunity to replace lines recommended in the water master plan. Staff said phase 1 and phase 3 are planned and that the program expects to bid remaining projects toward the end of this year and begin significant work in 2026. In response to the resident who said she had mowed a ditch for decades, staff clarified there are no current plans to pave that specific back‑of‑lot ditch and that the city had recently mowed it, noting the city’s mowing schedule for ditches is less frequent than park mowing and requires heavy equipment.

Council members and staff also discussed drainage work along major channels and the need for coordination with Wichita and Sedgwick County in areas where those agencies maintain ditches. Staff said some channel work requires property‑level coordination and added that the work should make ditches easier to maintain more regularly.