MANSFIELD — A rainstorm in late August should serve as a reminder to Mansfield City Council that the need for the Touby Run Flood Mitigation Project isn’t going away.
That was the clear message Tuesday evening from city engineer Bob Bianchi, who gained council approval for a $1.7 million portion of the larger three-part project needed to alleviate flooding on the north end and ultimately remove 100 acres from the flood plain.
The mitigation plan hasn’t been a topic for City Council since August 2022 when Bianchi provided an update on the design work being done by EMHT. That work began in February 2022.
The engineer was ready for council to move forward Tuesday night.
“The flood we got (Aug. 24 dropped) six inches of rain. Water filled up (North) Main Street. It was beginning to do its thing. It was beginning to do what it did on Aug. 21, 2007 (a storm that created massive flooding),” Bianchi said.
“Thankfully, we didn’t have a saturated ground or frozen ground. And the (storm) intensity wasn’t what it was (in 2007),” the engineer said.
Council agrees to ‘mass fill and storm sewer re-route’
Council agreed Tuesday to a project that will construct a mass fill at a section on the west side of North Main Street to keep water inside the Touby Run channel.
It will also re-route the existing storm sewer system, moving storm water toward the east into the Rocky Fork.
“This project is not going to reduce the 100-year flood,” Bianchi said after the meeting.
“But it will reduce the smaller events similar to what we had several weeks ago,” he said.
“This is the area that floods first,” Bianchi said, pointing to an area of North Main Street between Sixth Street and Olive Street.
“It just pours right through this low area and just starts filling the bowl,” he said.
Bianchi said $1.25 million for the project will come from the city’s sewer fund and a $450,000 Ohio Public Works Commission grant will pay for the remainder.
The engineer said the project has already been fully designed.
“Bids will be sought in a couple of weeks. I would like to enter into a construction contract this calendar year,” he said.
The work should begin as early as February 2024 and should be complete by November, according to Bianchi.
Two more stormwater projects in the offing
The two remaining segments of the flood mitigation triad are still to come.
The second portion is a stormwater retention basin at South Park
“The plans for that are done, but it’s not been to bid yet. That’s more than $1 million,” he told council.
The largest of the three efforts is an earthen dry dam at North Lake Park, which is still “knee deep” in the design phase, according to Bianchi.
In September 2021, council approved legislation authorizing the city to hire a company for $1.5 million to design the dry dam. At the time, that design process at the time was expected to take two years.
When that work is done, council (and a new administration that will take over in January) will have to determine if and when the dam will be built.
Cost of the dry dam not getting cheaper
The dry damn was projected two years ago to cost $16 million, a projection that no doubt has risen significantly in the last few years due to inflation and supply chain issues.
“We have submitted the plans to (the Ohio Department of Natural Resources) for review,” Bianchi said Tuesday. “ODNR has just recently gotten back to us.
“We will be meeting with them in the next few weeks to go through their comments on the plan. Once we have hashed out the details of their comments and the engineering that’s been completed thus far, we will then pursue the final design.
“I hope to have a presentation to council here in the next couple of months,” he said.
Bianchi admitted the price has gone up since 2021 — and even more since the concept was first discussed nearly a decade ago.
“As we continue to, year after year, wait on constructing this project, it’ll only get more expensive. So we are intending to pursue grant dollars,” he said.
“All three (projects) are necessary to remove the flood plain,” the engineer said.
