MANSFIELD — The Mansfield Board of Control on Tuesday awarded a $1,542,410 contract to EMH&TĀ for the design of an earthen dry dam aimed at alleviating flooding on the city’s north.
Mansfield City Council approved the expense in September 2021 for the design of the Touby Run Flood Mitigation Hazard Project to remove 106 acres of homes and businesses from the city’s north end flood plain.
City engineer Bob Bianchi said the design will take two years to complete. Once completed, the city administration and council would have to make a decision on moving ahead with the project in North Lake Park, estimated recently to cost about $16.5 million.
He said EMH&T will include DLZĀ Ohio Inc., a global engineering company,Ā for geotechnical investigations and Shaffer, Johnston, Lichtenwalter & Associates, Inc. of Mansfield for the B&O Bike Trail relocation that the structure would require.
According to the EMH&T proposal, the proposed dry dam will reduce the potential for inundation of land, buildings and key transportation corridors during the 1-percent annual (100-year) flood event.
“The project will include the relocation of the B&O Trail, including a pedestrian bridge, improvements to utilities within the footprint of the dam embankment, as well as storm sewer improvements extending east from North Main Street to a new outlet to Rocky Fork,” according to the proposal.
The goal of the project is to significantly reduce flood hazards along the downstream reach of Touby Run, “to the extent that the 100-year floodplain does not overflow North Main Street, north of West Sixth Street.”
According to the proposal, “this goal will be achieved through the reduction of peak flood discharge values at the proposed dam and the placement of fill on land acquired by the City along the west side of North Main Street.”
The project, which was discussed and worked on for several years, was shelved in 2019 while the city proceeded with a $17 million citywide water-meter replacement program aimed at improving revenues by more accurately measuring usage.
It was resurrected in April 2021 Joe and Reba Matern, owners of Matern Metal Works, Inc., came to a City Council meeting to ask when the city plans to move forward with the project.
The owners of the business at 210 N. Adams St. said their flood insurance premiums continue to rise after significant floods in 2007 and 2011 due to major rain storms.
No members of City Council opposed the project. But there were months of discussion regarding the city’s ability to pay for the work from its sewer fund, largely led by then-3rd Ward Councilman Jon Van Harlingen, chair of council’s finance and public utilities committee.
Van Harlingen frequently noted the city had taken on more than $50 million in bond debt in recent years, including $10 million for state-mandated improvements at the wastewater treatment plant and $35 million for state-mandated improvements at the water treatment plant.
However, after Mayor Tim Theaker announced plans last week last fall to allocate $3 million of the city’s American Rescue Plan Act dollars to an ongoing emergency storm-sewer project and other water/sewer efforts, Van Harlingen agreed to go ahead with the engineering and design.
Approval of the two-year design/engineering study doesn’t mean the dam will be built. Officials have said the idea is to create a shovel-ready project the city can use in seeking future federal and state grants.
One of the advocates for the project has been Jodie Perry, president/CEO of Richland Area Chamber & Economic Development.
“The Chamber has stood in favor of this project since the city first publicly talked about it in 2017. The flooding that affects the north end neighborhood and the northern part of of downtown, including some of the historic industrial areas, has caused a concerning disinvestment in an important part of our community,” Perry said at the September council meeting.
“As our community continues to work together to further the revitalization we are currently seeing, it’s important that we remove barriers that will stifle future growth and investment,” she said.
At-large council member Stephanie Zader said in September that council was not deciding on the actual dam construction.
“We’re deciding on getting the engineering completed so that we can go after funding for the rest of the project. This is a significant investment,” Zader said. “We’ve heard from a lot of members of the community in support of it.
“Everything that I’ve heard has been in support of it. The citizens want this, the community leaders want this because they know the impact that this will have in the long-term on our community.
“That’s what investment is. We will see a return on this. There is no doubt about that. The impact this flooding is having on that area of town is dire,” she said.
