COVENTRY TWP.: Joseph Macarchenia is abandoning his water-logged home.He has moved out and has no intention of returning to Penguin Condominiums.“That’s the end,” said Macarchenia, 53, a retired quality inspector at Lockheed Martin. “I’m never going back. It’s been pure misery and hell. ... It’s been 10 years of frustration and anger.”He said he is willing to lose tens of thousands of dollars invested in his condo just to get out.Macarchenia and his neighbors are unhappy about the repeated flooding and the lack of aid from government agencies.“There’s been no help from anybody,” he said.Added neighbor Marla Taormina, “We’re getting hit by Mother Nature, but there’s more to it than just big rains....We get hit all the time.”Their 62-unit condo development, near the Akron-Coventry border, sits within 15 feet of an unnamed tributary of Brewster Creek off Penguin Avenue near Glenmount Avenue. It has flooded four times this year and more than a dozen times in the past decade.The monster rainfall July 19 — about 7 inches — brought 5 feet of water into the complex. Residents lost more than $100,000 in water-ravaged vehicles, said Jonathan Lindsay, president of the condo owners’ association.A neighboring four-unit apartment building sitting 3 feet from the stream was so badly damaged it had to be razed, a $300,000-plus loss, said owner Monica Lillis of Green.The water knocked out the basement walls, she said, and the two upper floors were in danger of collapsing.“It was a huge loss for us,” Lillis said.Floods typically strike hardest at the 23 low-lying condos at the east end of the development, which lies south of Interstate 277 (U.S. 224) and north of Firestone Metro Park and Firestone Country Club.Summit County is aware of the problem and even has a couple of remedies in mind, but it does not have the funds to fix the flooding problem, said David White, planning engineer for Summit County Engineer Alan Brubaker.If the condo owners ask, the Summit Soil & Water Conservation District could get involved and meet with appropriate agencies to determine the best solution, spokeswoman Cindy Fink said.What’s happening is not unique to Penguin Condominiums. It has been repeated at other locations across the Akron area.Flooding problems involve development, zoning, political boundaries, hydrology, weather, stormwater management and changing rules along streams and wetlands — with the new emphasis on watershed management, said planner Eric Akin of the Akron-based Northeast Ohio Four County Planning and Development Organization.More development and more concrete surfaces put more water into small streams with potentially big impacts downstream, Akin said, and that’s an issue that is getting new attention.Not the best locationBuilding condos close to a stream would not be permitted today in much of Summit County.“It is, quite simply, not the best or safest location,” said Larry Fulton, chief deputy engineer for Brubaker.But the Penguin Condominium site was not on a designated flood plain because the stream was considered little more than a ditch when the units were built from 1976 to 1979.A section of the wetland that lies east of the development has been filled in. Old-timers say the fill came from construction of the nearby highway, not from building the condos. That reduced the capacity of the remaining wetland to handle excess water.The stream has also silted in channels and is clogged with debris, which backs up water.Penguin Avenue residents are convinced that the development of Coventry Crossings — 300 homes east of their condos and upstream on the same Brewster Creek tributary in Akron — has aggravated their flooding.Coventry Crossings, started in the mid-1990s, complies with all stormwater requirements, Akron spokesman Patrick Gsellman said. There is adequate capacity for 20-year storms, but not for bigger ones.Macarchenia and other condo residents said the development’s retention basin often overflows into the wetland and appears to be contributing to the downstream flooding affecting them.White said the best remedy might be enlarging the retention basin at Coventry Crossing and building a 6-foot streamside wall at the condos to keep water out of that development.The stream flows from east to west between I-277 and Swartz Road. It passes under Glenmount Avenue, goes under I-277 and empties into the main stem of Brewster Creek in South Akron. It then flows through Holy Cross cemetery, under South Main Street and turns south to cross under I-277 before emptying into the Tuscarawas River.In the Penguin condo area, the stream is narrow and overgrown with generally little water.Brewster Creek, also known as Brewster Run, has triggered additional flooding problems on the north side of I-277 in Akron. A heavy rain on May 13 resulted in water cascading 2 feet deep along East Waterloo Road.Akron is exploring options to curtail that flooding.After the floodThere are lingering effects from the July flood on Penguin Avenue.Lillis said one of her four tenants in a still-standing second apartment building moved out because of flood worries.The walls in that building have still not dried out, and that’s a concern, she said.Lindsay said the Penguin condo owners are “scared and very angry” because of repeated flooding. He said he cannot afford to go anywhere else and intends to do what he can to find a remedy.“It’s my personal mission,” said Lindsay, a 24-year-old hairdresser.Macarchenia said he is prepared to suffer a major financial loss on his condo.He paid $58,000 for it and has invested about $20,000 on improvements, he said. It was appraised at $71,000. His asking price is $39,900, and he said he may settle for far less just to walk away from the repeated flooding.“It is unlivable, unsellable and unrentable,” he said.His goal was to retire with no payments for housing or his car.He lost his car in a February flood, however, and it had to be replaced. He is now paying rent on an apartment in Coventry Township in addition to his car payment.He is not alone.“I want out of there so bad, but who is going to buy my condo?” asked Taormina, who has lived in the Penguin development since 1999. “I want out, 100 percent. How can I sell a watering hole?“We need someone to save us from drowning and going broke. It’s very depressing.... I’m going broke just to live in a mud hole.”Taormina carries rubber boots with her from car to her condo and back again to deal with the mud left over from the floods. “It’s my new obsessive-compulsive thing,” she said with a laugh.Taormina, who said she has lost count of the floods, said residents have learned to gauge the sound of dangerous rains approaching so they can move their vehicles to higher ground. Once the rain starts, they typically have 20 minutes before the stream overflows into the development, she said.Floodwater typically fills the parking lot and flows into the garages, which are below the second-floor living areas with loft bedrooms.The waters generally don’t strike the living space, but do a job on cars, furnaces, air conditioners, hot-water tanks, water softeners, washers, dryers, lower-level bathrooms and storage areas.Troubled propertyFor Helen and Adam Dadich of Akron, every flood hurts three times over.That’s because the retired couple owns and rents four condos on Penguin Avenue, three of which flood regularlyThe July flood cost them an estimated $15,000 on new furnaces, hot-water tanks, other replacement equipment and repairs for the rental units, they said. Helen. Dadich said there have been “15 or 16 floods, maybe more” since 1979.Some condo owners on Penguin Avenue have federally backed flood insurance, but others do not. The biggest problem is that such policies usually have a $1,000 deductible and a cap of $5,000 on damages, residents said.Macarchenia, for one, said he does his own repairs and cleanup and didn’t feel it was worth getting such insurance. But July’s big storm wiped out his furnace and appliances and “I now wish I had it,” he said of flood coverage.Taorimina got flood insurance after February’s flood.“It’s necessary and it helps,” she said.The Muskingum Conservancy Watershed District that oversees drainage from Akron south to the Ohio River along the Tuscarawas and Muskingum rivers is aware of the Penguin Avenue flooding and could play a role in finding a solution.It has money from an assessment imposed on landowners in 18 counties and could be interested in helping, said Boris Slogar, the district’s chief engineer.It would be willing to work with the Summit County Engineer’s Office or another agency if plans would reduce floods and improve water quality, he said.Any remedy then could be submitted to the district through its competitive Partners in Watershed Management program for grants, Slogar said.White said proposed remedies might cost between $100,000 and $500,000. It could take a year or two to finalize plans and get the improvements built — if the money can be found.That possibility did not placate Macarchenia.“It sounds like the same old load of crap,” he said. “We’ve been told we’re on the radar and on a list for flood relief. But nothing’s ever been done. We’re still waiting and suffering....I can’t take it anymore. It’s way too much work to live this way. I’m done.”Bob Downing can be reached at 330-996-3745 or bdowning@thebeaconjournal.com.