After hearing that several Northeastern Terrace residents plan to attend Monday night's Pasquotank Commissioners' meeting to complain about flooding, county officials have added time to discuss the issue to the meeting's agenda.

"Commissioner (Marshall) Stevenson has requested this be placed on the agenda," said Randy Keaton, county manager. "It is my understanding that several residents from Northeastern Terrace will be here to discuss recent flooding problems in their neighborhood."

Last week, the 60-member Northeastern Terrace Homeowners Association voted to circulate a petition and present it to the Pasquotank Board of Commissioners Monday night.

The Northeastern Terrace subdivision is 25 years old and located off Oak Stump Road, and is upstream from Oxford Heights and near the Summerfield subdivision in Elizabeth City. All of which are situated in the Knobbs Creek watershed, which flows northeastward through the county and city and empties into the Pasquotank River.

Residents of Northeastern Terrace say recent residential and commercial development near their neighborhood has caused flooding to become worse. Several residents said they want county officials to delay approving new subdivisions in the Knobbs Creek watershed until the county finds a way to prevent flooding in Northeastern Terrace.

Two weeks ago, a 4.5-inch rainfall caused a nearby swamp to spill over into streets and residents' yards in the neighborhood.

Newly elected Commissioner Horace Pritchard said he believes residents want immediate results, but that halting construction wouldn't solve the problem.

Pritchard, who served on the Board of Commissioners in the 1980s, said the county is nearing completion of a stormwater plan that breaks down each watershed into drainage districts. The plan will help identify problem areas and solutions, he said.

"Years ago we tried to do an overall drainage plan with districts," Pritchard said Friday. "This (Northeastern Terrace) is just an example that it's needed now. But it needs to be in cooperation with the federal and state governments to get these swamps and waterways cleaned out."

One area of blockage identified by city and county officials is North Main Street Extended, where it crosses over Knobbs Creek. Several years ago, a bridge was replaced with subsurface drainage pipes, which often get overwhelmed during heavy rainfalls and cause stormwater to back up toward Oxford Heights and Northeastern Terrace.

Assistant County Manager Rodney Bunch said he, Keaton and N.C. Department of Transportation officials met recently at the Main Street crossing to see what could be done.

"Our purpose was to reinforce that in addition to Main Street itself flooding, residents in upstream subdivisions have expressed that flooding has worsened since the bridge was replaced with the culverts," Bunch said.

A DOT hydrologist took notes at the meeting, but has not told county officials if the crossing could be converted back to a bridge to alleviate flooding, Bunch said.

"He indicated that he would do research on this site and all other sites he would visit during the three days he was in the district, and write a report on the individual sites," Bunch said.

The Pasquotank Board of Commissioners meets at 7 p.m. Monday in Courtroom C at the Pasquotank County Courthouse on East Main Street in Elizabeth City.