City takes steps to ease flooding, erosion
The Round Rock City Council passed $375,000 in engineer service contracts to help mitigate flooding and fix erosion problems within the city.
Michael Thane, utility and environmental services director, presented three contracts for engineering services with two different firms to evaluate areas affected by flooding during heavy rains.
During Tropical Storm Hermine in 2010, Thane said, several homes in the Brushy Slope neighborhood between Brushy Creek Drive and North Georgetown Street flooded. He said the $150,000 contract with engineering firm HDR Engineering Inc. will help mitigate those flood issues.
Thane noted homes in the area with fences facing Brushy Creek are experiencing erosion along their back fence lines near the stream bank.
The subdivision does not have any storm drainage or stormwater inlets, and HDR will evaluate the area to see what infrastructure should be created, he said at the July 14 meeting.
In May, the council approved a similar engineering contract to help improve flooding problems in eastern Round Rock near the Oak Bluff Estates and Greenfield subdivisions. That contract will analyze the storm drainage system and devise design improvements for those subdivisions.
The council approved another $75,000 contract with HDR to allow emergency support during flood events, Thane said. When the city needs that support, staff can now call the engineering firm for assistance or to get people on the ground checking things like high water marks, he said.
The firm can also help city staff put together Federal Emergency Management Agency response documentation in times of crisis, he said.
Another item passed by the council will provide engineering services for the city’s Erosion, Stabilization and Restoration Work Authorization Project. The first part of the project will focus on fixing erosion in the La Frontera area near Hesters Crossing Road, Thane said. There is a large retention pond next to the Lakeside Apartments into which a nearby channel drains, he said.
Engineering firm Freese and Nichols Inc. will assess the area and come up with a solution and designs on how to improve the creek and help with channel erosion, Thane said.
The contract covers other erosion, stabilization and restoration work around the city for the next two years with consulting firm Freese and Nichols Inc. up to $150,000, he said.