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BRYANT CITY Council announces moves on watershed recommendations |
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Tuesday, 29 April 2008 |
The current state of the watershed project in certain neighborhoods in Bryant was updated for the Bryant City Council in a meeting Monday night.
The project will determine how long a temporary bridge will remain on Forest Drive.
City engineer Richard Penn said box culverts have been ordered to place at the Arkansas 5 North bridge, near Larry’s Pizza, and where a temporary low-water bridge currently is located on Forest Drive. These are all included in the city emergency plans and an analysis plan developed by FTN and Associates.
FTN and Associates, an environmental consulting firm specializing in solving problems related to the environment, was hired by the city in January 2007 to conduct a watershed project in certain neighborhoods in Bryant.
The project was designed 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 addressed without causing additional harm to other points in the watershed. The final report from FTN and Associates was presented to the council in December, but finding ways to fund the project have been sought since that time.
However, major storms on April 3 and 4 caused major flooding issues in the identified neighborhoods and other areas of the city, sparking residents to speak out during a April 10 council meeting.
Mayor Larry Mitchell and City Council members declared an emergency situation and proceeded with the implementation of certain projects in FTN’s plans. Bryant Fire Chief Randy Cox was named the incident commander to oversee Operation Flood Relief and $72,000 was allocated to fund emergency projects in the April 10 meeting.
On Monday, Penn shared the latest information related to the FTN project.
“Because of the flooding on April 3 and 4, it created urgency to proceed with the implementation of FTN’s plan,” Penn said. “The council then approved the purchase of all the box culverts recommended by FTN during a special meeting on April 16 and the culverts were ordered on April 17.”
Penn said FTN is working on a scope of work and fee schedule for detailed drawings of headwall, wingwalls and aprons for six street crossings to be ready for review in the May 8 city council meeting. The drawings are required whether the city street department does the installation or it is done by contractors, he said.
The council also approved McClelland Consulting Engineers Inc. in Little Rock to prepare a scope of work, fee schedule and layout drawings for the Arkansas 5 North bridge. Penn said McClelland is discussing the traffic issues with the Arkansas Highway and Transportation Department, and city attorney Nga Starzewski is reviewing the city’s contract with McClelland. He said the contract should be ready for consideration by the council on May 8.
Penn has said numerous times that FTN and Associates recommended that the first and possibly most important piece of the project is to correct the culvert problem with the Arkansas 5 North bridge. He said the projects are limited by this bridge.
Penn said the culverts for the temporary low water bridge on Forest Drive have been ordered and he expects the project to be completed by “possibly middle of August or early September.” Kraus Construction of Fort Smith will be digging exploratory holes in the next two weeks to locate utilities near 3312 Travis Parkway, Penn said, which is a preliminary project to installation of an additional outfall pipe from the West Pointe detention pond on Independence Drive to the creek in Sunset Meadows.
Alderman Rick Meyer also mentioned the fact that Saline County was declared a federal disaster and funding was approved by the Federal Emergency Management Agency to possibly reimburse the projects.
“We were actually able to plan ahead because of the FTN study,” Meyer said. “We are ahead of everyone else, including FEMA, and this can only benefit the city and the whole plan to stop flooding problems in all of Bryant.”
A complete list of the emergency projects and plans for Operation Flood Relief, which incorporates the FTN and Associates watershed project, may be viewed on the Bryant Fire Department Web site at www.bryantfirerescue.net.
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