Is the construction of the Summit at Monte Sano worsening the flooding in the neighborhoods below it on the Huntsville mountain?

Residents who live in the adjacent neighborhoods believe that is the case, which is something Colorado-based developer See Forever and city officials dispute.

"We've seen the difference in the water flow," said Huntsville Utilities retiree Bill Yell, who lives on Joseph Circle. He lives near Oakwood Avenue resident Michael Stephenson, who posted a video on YouTube of the flooding after heavy rains fell on the mountain on May 2-3.

"The upper part of Dallas Branch runs through my back yard," he said. "All of that water you saw from that video came through my back yard. ... whenever we have a heavy rain now, it's mud coming down. The soil content is very high in the runoff water."

The city of Huntsville issued a stop work order on the single-family and townhome development following the heavy rain that weekend, based on data from the engineering staff that Urban and Economic Development Director Shane Davis said exceeded a 100-year storm event and contributed to the amount of runoff.

The "limited" stop work order directs the contractor to only work on completing the ongoing stormwater drainage construction portions of the development before other work could proceed, Davis told AL.com.

"That was a monumental rain event," See Forever Chief Operating Officer Ben Jackson told AL.com. "Someone told me an inch an hour?"

The city cited data that said an inch of rain fell in a 12-minute span. And the National Weather Service in Huntsville cited data that had an inch of rain falling twice within an hour during that period. The weather service said 3.48 inches of rain fell over the two days.

But Yell and Mark Judge, who lives at the corner of Gaslight Way and Hayley's Way (the entrance to Summit at Monte Sano) question whether or not the heavy rain event that weekend could be called a 100-year event.

"We had a thunderstorm, and it came down with high intensity quickly," Judge said. "It wasn't because it was that much rain."

"Yeah, that's a typical spring rain thunderstorm event," Yell added, citing a friend's rain gauge record (of) 2.88 inches of rainfall. "That so we're not talking historic rainfall amounts at all."

Jackson said the runoff "did not just come off of our property."

"It came from above as well, ran through our drainage system, into these lower neighborhoods that were not required to have these advanced draining systems in place," he said.

Jackson maintains the work on the Summit at Monte Sano did not cause the flooding from the May 2-3 event, saying "Mother Nature did."

"The neighborhoods that are located below Monte Sano need to begin discussions with the city on how to capture and channelize the water that comes off of the mountain," Jackson said.

While damage to his property is minor compared to others in the Heritage at Monte Sano subdivision, Judge said he's starting "to get fed up with it more and more."

"He won't admit that he's causing it," Judge said. "This is causing it."

He said he has lived there for 25 years and had never experienced the problems he's seeing now.

Judge and Yell said the presence of red clay coming down with the water backs up their claim that work on the development is making things worse on the residents below. Red clay could still be seen on private property on Gaslight Way just below the development four days after the rain event.

"They're cutting down all of the trees," Yell said. "The water is not draining into the soil now. It's coming down the mountainside."

Judge said he complained to the contractor working on the site following the May 2-3 rain event.

"They had a fire hose," he said. "They were out here Saturday morning clearing the mud off the street (Gaslight Way)."

Judge said before Hayley's Way was extended, there was a natural berm where the street had previously ended that helped when it rained. Now water and mud come streaming down either the street or the sidewalk that runs by his house.

Adding to his belief that the development has made flooding worse is the fact that the neighborhood has flooded at least four times this year, and not just on that weekend. He showed AL.com flooding photos from previous rains.

But Jackson and city officials said the area was prone to flooding from heavy rains even before work on the development began.

"As you are well aware when Huntsville has these massive rain events there has been news footage showing the flooding that comes off of Monte Sano even when it was in its natural state," Jackson said.

"If that is the case, why did they approve the construction?" Yell asked. "You've already got a problem, why compound your problem?"

Davis told the Huntsville City Council at its May 8 meeting that city engineers have been on site and are working with the developers with the drainage system to divert the runoff from the development and other parts of the mountain.

"We started looking at topography and we're changing some of that stormwater discharge direction," Davis said. "It's just not complete."

Jackson said the drainage system already in place consisting of retaining walls, retention ponds, drainpipes and drains operated "the way it was designed to."

But Judge doesn't believe that is entirely the case, showing AL.com a couple of retention ponds that were still full of water and mud on May 7.

Since it is zoned as a planned urban development, Summit at Monte Sano isn't bound by the city's slope development regulations. But it is subject to city stormwater regulations that state that new developments cannot contribute to existing flooding problems in the area where they are being built.

Work has not yet begun on the actual homes on the site, but Jackson said building permits should be issued soon. The Huntsville Planning Commission granted final approval for 26 lots in March and gave preliminary approval for 64 lots.

Without the planned urban development zoning, Davis said, the development could have had a larger density. He also said the city has been monitoring tree removal with 2 The Point, Inc., the engineering firm involved with the project.

See story: Huntsville orders work to stop on Monte Sano development after flooding - al.com