After underestimating the cost of construction related to the Central City / Panther Island flood control project, the city of Fort Worth is searching for millions of dollars to fund immediate work along Grand Avenue on the Northside.
The city’s plan is to pull $14.1 million originally set aside for 11 flood mitigation projects not related to Central City / Panther Island. Those funds came from Fort Worth’s 2020 stormwater bond and the city’s Pay-As-You-Go fund for capital projects.
The Tarrant Regional Water District will reimburse the city for any invoices paid before Aug. 1, according to water district spokesperson Matt Oliver. The reimbursement payment should arrive in September, with money coming from $250 million in TRWD bonds approved by voters in 2018, he said.
But some of the city’s stormwater projects may be delayed depending on how quickly crews can finish construction related to Panther Island, which will affect the reimbursement timeline, said Jennifer Dyke, assistant stormwater management director. Dyke, who declined an interview but answered questions by email, didn’t elaborate on which projects could expect delays.
Several of the affected projects are part of the city’s program to reduce the number of roads that frequently flood and put people and property at risk. Some funding will not be returned because some projects are already considered completed by Fort Worth’s stormwater department, according to an informal report that will be presented to City Council members on April 18.
Under the current plan, more than $4.6 million will be pulled from a flood mitigation project near the Northside’s Diamond Hill neighborhood, while $2.25 million will come from a program to acquire homes and replace them with green space in the Central Arlington Heights neighborhood.
About $1.7 million in funds to three projects near Lake Worth, Westcliff and Fairmount will not be returned to those projects, Dyke said. The Fairmount project could be scrapped entirely as it was identified as a lower priority than other storm drain projects.
District 9 council member Elizabeth Beck, who represents Central Arlington Heights and Fairmount, said on Friday she did not have time to read through the entire informal report yet. However, she is concerned about any reallocation of funds away from stormwater projects in her district.
“To the extent any project, particularly related to stormwater, is going to be removed or delayed in District 9, I will fight to prevent that from happening,” Beck said. “I think that the Central City project is important to the city of Fort Worth, but the residents we have now that are suffering from flooding when it rains are also important.”
Dyke said the plan is necessary because of the timelines set by the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, the federal agency responsible for constructing two bypass channels and surrounding infrastructure that will make Panther Island a reality.
Before the Army Corps of Engineers can move forward with its part in the Panther Island project, Fort Worth must relocate 14 stormwater and water lines to make way for the bypass channels. The city’s first priority is moving storm drains along Grand Avenue, near Rockwood Park.
The city must complete utility relocations within the north bypass channel by summer 2024 and within the south bypass channel by fall 2024, said Clay Church, a spokesman for the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers.
Cost of 14 utility relocations could soar to $60.5 million
City staff originally estimated that Grand Avenue construction would cost $10 million, according to the April 18 informal report. That cost has ballooned to $22.8 million.
As recently as May 2022, city staff estimated that the total budget for all 14 utility relocation projects, including Grand Avenue, would be $22.9 million. The city now estimates it will need between $53.8 million and $60.5 million to complete all necessary work for the Central City / Panther Island project.
“The project is complex and challenging,” Dyke said in a statement. “There are limited contractors who can do the work, and costs are impacted by competing projects, inflation and material and labor shortages.”
City will face similar scenario with Main Street construction
To stay on schedule with the Army Corps of Engineers, city staff need City Council members to approve the Grand Avenue construction contract at their next meeting on April 25. Fort Worth won’t receive funding from its stormwater bond until June 15, forcing staff to find an alternative path to finance construction.
Fort Worth will be in the same position when it approves a construction contract for moving drainage infrastructure along Main Street. Construction should begin before the June bond funding becomes available, so city staff expect to pull about $10.9 million from other stormwater projects so Fort Worth can move forward with Main Street, according to the informal report.
Between the time Fort Worth receives bond funds in June and the time the water district reimburses in September, the city will put all funds it’s not using for Central City construction – about $24.65 million – to advance high-priority stormwater projects. The city is also considering long-term financing solutions to provide the upfront money the stormwater department needs to complete capital projects.
Council districts 2, 3, 5, 7, 8, and 9 stand to be affected by the new funding plan.
Carlos Flores, who represents District 2, is a member of the Trinity River Vision Authority board, the government body tasked with overseeing the Panther Island project. He also represents both Panther Island and the Diamond Hill neighborhood, which will likely face delays on flooding mitigation improvements due to the move.
Flores said city staff did not reach out to him directly before creating the funding plan, which is on the agenda for Tuesday’s council work session. His main concern is ensuring that the city properly tracks where the money is being pulled from so that those dollars are returned to the right projects after the water district’s reimbursement.
“Where you get into a bind is if you can’t account for it, and you can’t trace what happened,” Flores said.
Diamond Hill fears neighborhood flood project will face delays
Steve Hudgeons, president of the Diamond Hill-Jarvis Neighborhood Association Council, said his north Fort Worth neighborhood experiences significant flooding during heavy rains. He and fellow neighbors have waited more than a decade for the city to take action to stem the flood waters coming from nearby Lebow Creek.
“Diamond Hill is always having to catch up and just deal with whatever happens, and that’s all there is to it,” Hudgeons said.
The city has started work mitigating some of the issues with the creek, Hudgeons said, but the neighborhood still routinely floods when it rains. Stormwater is a consistent concern of Flores’ constituents, he said.
“When I came on board to council, one of the first things that I did was engage the stormwater folks because I got an earful in making my campaign rounds,” Flores said. “When I knocked on doors in Diamond Hill, it’s like ‘what are you going to do about this historical flooding going on?’”
The city can’t prevent flooding, but it can take action to lessen it, Flores said.
“We can make it better, we can lower the risks, we can mitigate it better than it has been in the past, and we will continue to do that,” Flores said. “But understand, no one can guarantee that, and, if they do, they’re lying to you.”
Neighbors are hoping for relief from a project that will reduce flooding at the intersection of NE 28th Street and Decatur Avenue by improving the capacity of the Lebow channel to “protect the life safety of the public,” according to a contract approved in June. In 2020, the project was introduced as the city’s largest investment in an $87 million plan to combat urban flash flooding.
Now that $4.6 million is being pulled from the project, Hudgeons said he will continue to watch as flooding creates dangerous driving conditions in the neighborhood. He isn’t surprised by the delays – it seems like it takes 10 years for the city to complete basic projects, Hudgeons said.
“I guess we can wait another 10 years,” Hudgeons said.
Haley Samsel is the environmental reporter for the Fort Worth Report. You can reach them at haley.samsel@fortworthreport.org.
Rachel Behrndt is a government accountability reporter for the Fort Worth Report. Contact her at rachel.behrndt@fortworthreport.org or via Twitter.
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