On Sept. 26, 2024, in a Letter to the Editor of The Gorham Times, Gorham resident Carol Molchior represented herself and her neighbors to gain municipal support with the Jan. 2024 flooding on their Lawn Avenue properties. They had contacted the town engineer, stormwater enforcement authority, and stormwater compliance officer without what they felt were reasonable solutions. Molchior’s backyard was a “lake,” she reported. She took photos, and her basement showed 30 inches of seeping water. The county’s district engineer made an onsite visit and he and Molchior talked about drainage, stormwater violations, and inspections, but without resolution.

At a meeting with The Gorham Times on Nov. 25, 2024, Town Manager Ephrem Paraschak and Town Engineer Chuck Norton looked back on the January rainstorm, confirmed that town monitoring shows that systems have been installed correctly and that yearly inspections of those systems, a responsibility of the subdivision, are ongoing.

Town ordinances can’t predict a 25-year storm, but the systems are designed for 25-year events. A 50-year storm would test the systems and cost money. Homeowners Associations (HOAs), strapped to keep up with other expenses, are aware of their own responsibility, and experienced town engineers and town officials informed by frequent contacts with other state officers are aiming to keep up with environmental change and other common concerns.

Gorham is not alone. Although rain is scarce currently, we know the inevitability of too much rain, such as the recent deadly flooding in Spain. We’ve had ice storms, downed power lines all over New England, challenges of the HOAs, too few trees where there used to be forests. We’re facing the need to spend money to fight the reality of the climate disasters, and the housing crisis, while pocketbooks are drained by the unpredictability of the 2024 economy.

The Gorham resident did all the right stuff: she contacted her neighbors to see if and which of their homes were affected, worrying along with them over repairs and the costs those repairs would demand. She became a student of town and state laws pertaining to groundwater vs. stormwater, she schooled herself on terms like “level spreader,” code enforcement, wetlands drainage, compliance, and spillway, and carefully examined construction plans, finding possible responsibility in words like, “nuisance trespass,” and “on-site assessment,” and “delayed inspection,” and finally met with the town.

For all homeowners and prospective buyers, some good advice from our town officials is to become involved with the process by calling Public Works with concerns, attend public meetings, know your own property, and be prepared for the kinds of catastrophes you can and cannot predict. Meet your neighbors and know what you are buying into. Molchior will pursue her efforts out of a need for clarity, and the town will keep a door open to citizens with needs and concerns.