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Company ready to start water work for Bryant |
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Wednesday, 19 December 2007 |
FTN and Associates, an environmental consulting firm specializing in solving problems related to the environment, has completed a report for the city of Bryant.
FTN was hired in January to conduct a watershed study to help identify problems and determine what should be done to improve stormwater drainage in Forest Cove, Sunset Meadows, West Pointe, Springhill Acres, Springhill Manor, Sherwood Estates and Northridge subdivisions. The objective was to identify specific items that can be implemented without causing additional harm to upstream or downstream residents at any point in the watershed.
Bryant City Engineer Richard Penn updated the City Council on this process in a meeting Monday night.
Penn said the company soon will be ready to implement its plans for the city.
The original date set for the expected final report was July 22, but the report was delayed for various reasons. This prompted several councilmen to draft a resolution in September to expedite the process. The resolution stated that, “the City Council, directed by the director of department of community development public works, should take actions necessary to correct the flooding issues and determine what needs to be done to improve stormwater drainage in Forest Cove, Sunset Meadows, West Pointe, Springhill Acres, Springhill Manor, Sherwood Estates and Northridge subdivisions without causing additional harm to upstream or downstream residents.”
The resolution further stated that the city council asks the mayor and director of the department of community development and public works to:
• Immediately contact the Arkansas Highway and Transportation Department and request that it take immediate action to upgrade the existing stream crossing on Arkansas 5.
• Effect repairs of the levees, at the Westpointe detention pond, subject to fund availability, which now has been dedicated to the city of Bryant.
• Implement the recommendations of FTN and Associates and begin immediately seeking funding to ensure that each stage can be implemented in a timely way.
• Provide monthly progress reports in the implementation of the FTN Forest Cove Hydraulic Analysis report at the council’s regularly scheduled monthly meetings.
The council then appropriated $89,000 to FTN and Associates. On Monday, Penn said that the final report is completed and plans to begin work on the projects will begin soon.
“I spoke with FTN and they have completed our final report on the watershed project,” Penn said. “The final report will be in our hands by [today] and that will wrap up FTN’s commitment. We now have to proceed with the suggestions that they have and implement those. We’re getting new pricing to confirm for the next 60-90 days what we can expect and if we have funds to pursue some of those [suggestions] ... we’ll have some pricing in our hands and be ready to go.”
Penn said that new pricing will tell the city how much it will cost to implement projects of the watershed project and to find out how much funding the city has available. This will help the city begin to prioritize which projects or areas need to be started first to help ease the flooding problems in the areas of Forest Cove, Sunset Meadows, West Pointe, Springhill Acres, Springhill Manor, Sherwood Estates and Northridge subdivisions.
“I will prioritize the first four sub-projects,” Penn said. “The whole project is too large to jump up and handle immediately. I have those four identified back at my office and we’ll be working up some project sheets to get those before [the council]. As soon as funding is available we’ll start with the first project and try to tackle these in smaller increments ... I’ll say something in the $50,000 range and maybe less than $100,000 [to work on individual projects].”
For more information about the FTN and Associates Forest Cove Area Watershed Analysis, persons may call Penn at 847-1664 or by e-mail at
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