Question
I live in an area with multiple housing units. All the units yards drain into my yard. Our yard is supposed to drain into the community yard area which has good drainage. However, our yard is lower than the community area. Our yard is somewhat V shaped so that the water will pool in the center. I was thinking of trying to do a form of a french drain. I can't do the full drain because I can't do anything with the community area. One thing I was thinking of doing was digging down about 3 feet in the center, filling that trench with rock and covering it with about 1 to 2 inches of topsoil. Will this work?

Answer
It may help a bit - it is called a dry sump, and it is used a lot of times in areas, such as yours, that are "landlocked". If it is not a LOT of water, go for it.  

It really is a quick fix to a long-term problem, as the gravel will eventually silt up, and you're back to a wet backyard...or you can replace the gravel about every 15-20 years!  It is best to intercept the water (somehow - ditch/pipe/gutter) before it ever enters your back yard.

It also depends on the percolation rate of the subsoil, or how fast the water is absorbed into the ground.  Kind of like a bathtub, filled with rocks.  If you get enough rocks into it, on the surface it looks dry, but if the "drain" isn't working, all you'll get is an overflowing bathtub at some point.  The community yard probably has a tiny pipe at one end that lets the water out slowly (called "metered flow" - engineers love calculating this figure) so the downsteam folks don't get overwhelmed.

Plus, some areas are touchy about stuff getting into the groundwater this way, especially if you live in a city that has a community water system that uses wells.  A percolation rate will also tell you how much rock to add to your trench/ditch.  It is an easy thing to do - dig a hole in the area you want to drain into, get it wet by pouring water in, then add MORE water and measure how quickly it drains away...typically measured in minutes per inch (min./").  Just stick a tape measure into the mud, or a stick with tic marks on 1" apart.

In some areas it NEVER drains away (heavy clay), or it just "disappears" never to be seen again (sandy soils).  An average rate is about 15-30 minutes/".  60 minutes/" is approaching the limits of this type of system...the tub's plug is stuck!  Slower perc. rate (longer time to drain) = more gravel.

Plus, it probably won't help if the water is coming in too fast, as in a heavy downpour or neighbor draining his pool!

Good luck -M