MANSFIELD — City council has revisited discussion on the dry dam proposal aimed at flood mitigation in Mansfield.
Last June, city engineer Bob Bianchi and Miles Hebert of EMH&T shared with council an overview of the Touby Run Flood Hazard Mitigation Study, which proposes the creation of detention basins at North Lake Park and South Park, bridge replacements on Sixth and Mulberry streets, the construction of a small embankment at 309 N. Main St., and the elimination of the Miller Street bridge along Touby Run.
Further, a 903-foot-long dry dam is proposed to be constructed at the west end of North Lake Park, including a concrete spillway. At its highest point, the dam would reach 45 feet.
“As everyone is aware, we are looking at and taking steps toward a flood mitigation project for Touby Run,” assistant law director Chris Brown said. “The key consideration right now is to find funding for up to $19 million in terms of bond revenue for that project.”
At its recent meeting, council approved a reimbursement resolution that gives the city the option to pursue up to $19 million in bond revenues for the dry dam project.
This is no guarantee that the city will move forward with the project and Brown noted that by passing the resolution, it does not obligate city council to issue bonds.
“Let’s say we do some research, we find out we don’t want to proceed with this project,” Brown said. “Passing this resolution would not obligate the city. You’re not tying your own hands in the future.”
He said if the city does decide to issue bonds, the resolution allows the city to use the revenue to pay itself back.
“So in a way we’re kind of taking a loan from ourselves,” he explained.
Mayor Tim Theaker said the resolution helps ensure that the city abides by IRS rules.
“The IRS is extremely picky in paying ourselves back,” he said. “That’s why this resolution has to be put in place so that it is actually notifying the IRS that any funding, any monies that we spend now, if we go after a bond, can be paid back to the city.”
Since the project’s inception in 2013, the city has spent between $400,000 to $500,000, according to city engineer Bob Bianchi. He said engineering and survey work along Touby Run has yet to be done, as well as studying the process of property acquisition.
He said the city could spend another $100,000 to $200,000 for services before approaching council to make a decision on moving forward with the project, which could happen this summer, he said.
By definition, the term “100-year flood” is used in an attempt to simplify the definition of a flood that statistically has a one percent chance of occurring in any given year. Mansfield experienced a 100-year flood in August 2007 when it rained about seven inches over 14 hours, devastating hundreds of homes and multiple businesses.
Mansfield was close to experiencing another 100-year flood in February 2011.
“There are events that we’ve seen since 2007 that constructing this dam would have alleviated those events from flooding the downtown,” Bianchi said.
An estimated 106 acres of land and almost $15 million of building valuation would be removed from the floodplain.
“If you eliminate that floodplain by putting this dam in, one, there’s no flood insurance that’s being required for those properties, and then there’s development that can be done in that area,” Theaker said.
Bianchi acknowledged that the problem of flooding can’t be solved overnight.
“There’s a reason why we still have a 150-year-old problem,” he said. “It’s difficult. It’s very hard. It’s very time-consuming. It’s expensive.
“But I think these steps are necessary to be able to make the decision (on whether or not to move forward).”
