MARS — Mars Borough Council discussed a resident's recent flooding woes during a meeting Monday night.

Adams Township resident Jeremy Richey, who lives along Clarks Lane below the Seton Crest development retention pond, told council that recent rainstorms have flooded the road connecting to Richey's property and disturbed his driveway.

“I'm not quite sure what to do,” Richey said. “It's (taken) out 20 percent of my driveway.”

The water appears to come from the retention pond and carries debris. Richey isn't sure from where the debris is coming.

“I'm getting cut logs,” Richey said.

Richey told council he has been parking along the road instead of in his driveway. If he fixes the issue himself, he will install a “massive” pipe that will handle the debris, so he doesn't have to fix his driveway again. However, he's concerned the installation will affect his neighbors down the road, who live in the borough and already deal with the debris washing down from the retention pond.

“I thought I'd see what your ... thoughts were,” Richey told council. “I just didn't want it to cause any more damage downstream.”

According to council President Mike Fleming, the issue was with the water's point of origin — the “so-called retention pond” that is under the jurisdiction of a homeowners' association.

Richey said he has talked to Adams Township.

“They wanted to fix it, but they wanted me to cover half the cost,” Richey said.

But he doesn't want to cover half the cost if the issue isn't permanently fixed. Fleming told Richey he will continue having problems until the issue is fixed upstream.

“I applaud the fact that you're here to even care about what happens downstream,” Fleming said. “But you've got to access your home.”

“You have to do what you have to do to protect your property,” Councilman Rick Foster agreed.

The borough installed an additional outlet pipe near the retention pond to help ease the problem in the past. The pipe purportedly handles the water, but not the debris. Fleming said flooding has been an issue for many retention ponds in the area this year. He said the borough has talked to Adams representatives about the problems, but a solution hasn't been reached.

Richey said he was told the area under his driveway is outside the township's jurisdiction.

“But at the same time, when it flooded, they parked a backhoe on my property,” Richey said.

Richey said he will speak again to Adams Township and keep council up-to-date on the issue.

“And vice-versa, if we are made aware of any change of habit ... you'll be in the loop,” Fleming said.