GRA Note:  The downside to an engineering design of running sewer lines in floodways

Bryan residents continue efforts to cease potential sewer trunk line construction

A potential College Station sewer trunk line continues to be the topic of discussion among Bryan residents who live in the Beverley Estates and Garden Acres neighborhoods, as the line would potentially impede in front or behind their homes with no service to their city.

For the last few weeks, both the Bryan and College Station city councils have heard concerns from residents about the sewer line and the proposed routes it could take. During Bryan City Council’s Tuesday night meeting, 15 Bryan residents spoke out against the proposed sewer line.

Additionally, residents who live along Vine Street are worried their homes will have increased flooding issues, if a sewer pipe is installed near Burton and Pin Oak Creek nearest an already existing sewer pipeline that causes flooding and debris buildup.

James Mulvey, a Bryan resident who lives on Vine Street, attended a public input meeting last week hosted by Bryan city staff and wanted feedback about flooding concerns from residents. Following that meeting, Mulvey requested documentation of the city’s Master Drainage Plan conducted in 2010. In that plan, Mulvey found that two addresses along Vine Street were looked at for a potential Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) buyout for about $417,000 for both properties in 2010.

“I have two neighbors who live at the end of Vine Street who are actually in the ‘floodway,’ which is a much higher risk than being in the floodplain. To my understanding, the floodway is where the actual steam of water flows, making anything in its path the most vulnerable when a flood event occurs,” Mulvey told The Eagle on Tuesday. “[In the] Bryan Master Drainage Plan, [it] discusses 827 and 826 Vine St. as being such repeat flood victims that they were suggesting a ‘buyout’ would be needed.”Under the justification for the buyout, the document reads as follows:

“Residential structures, 826 and 827 Vine Street, are located within the Burton Creek floodplain. The homes are in a residential subdivision where a tributary meets Burton Creek,” the 2010 document states. “According to the Flooding and Erosion Issues database from the City of Bryan, the back of these houses are flooding approximately 6 inches and there is major erosion near the residences.”

According to Pew Charitable Trusts, a strategy to address repeated flooding is a “buyout,” in which residents sell their flood-prone properties to the state or local government and relocate to areas with lower flood risk.

Currently, Marlon Outing is a resident at 827 Vine St., whose property is bordered by both Pin Oak and Burton Creek, and has lived there 3 1/2 years.

“Our home has been flooded about four times,” Outing said. “Myself and the two neighbors beside me on the left and right are the homes that flood really bad. My house is one of the older houses on the block … The insurance is already peaking as we speak because you can’t live over there without having flood issues, so with a drainage going in and the hazard to it, [the sewer trunk line] would cause more flood waters to rise because of the size and mass of the pipe.”

Outing said it was his understanding that Bryan city staff offered years ago to buy two homes on Vine Street, but it didn’t go through.

“I don’t know why it didn’t go through, but they were offering [the previous owners] and I guess they were going to do away with it and put something else instead of homes right here because the flooding was so bad,” he told The Eagle on Tuesday. “When you think about that, even the history of them wanting to buy us out or buy the homes before we got here, it shows the greater danger to where we are right now; because of the debris and the collectivity of the debris that gathers in the actual trench, makes it even a greater chance of flooding.”

Sam Vernon, the city’s assistant city engineer who joined the city in 2018, said at that time in 2010 there were several ideas being discussed.

“There was a project included in that 2010 document that discussed the possibility of buying those two addresses out, but that is really as far as the conversation had gone, it was just identified as a potential project 13 years ago,” Vernon said. “That area of town has a history of inundation at times from flooding and flood events, and there were other projects in that area that were being looked at as well, like some erosion control in those areas. I feel like in the time that the engineer had gone out there to maybe look at some erosion issues, that the conversation came up and somebody may have spoken to them at that time about the possibility of buying homes out.”

“To my knowledge, that is really the only time that we have done any buyouts on property, they were severe repetitive loss structures,” he said. “I don’t know why the [2010 buyout] was not followed through … but the only buyouts we have done are homes in the severe repetitive loss properties. We are not just going out and buying homes, these would have had to have at least four claims of $5,000 or greater in a cumulative total of over $20,000 to even be looked at as a severe repetitive loss. That would mean that the owners would have to have flood insurance through the NFIP [National Flood Insurance] program.”

Vernon said since College Station hasn’t finished its survey work in Pin Oak Creek, the discussion is only in the beginning phases.

“Our duty as being a city that participates in the community rating system is to not only have a flood plan management ordinance but to also enforce that. Part of that enforcement is requiring a flood plain development permit before any type of construction begins,” he said. “If the decision is made by our public works director that this route is to be considered, then I would be looking at their flood plain development permit and reviewing it.”

Mary Linne, a resident of Shady Lane, requested that Bryan city staff not issue a construction permit to College Station.

“We have been a community of one; don’t let it go back to being a community of two,” she told the council.

Mayor Bobby Gutierrez spoke during the portion of the meeting where the council was to discuss this topic, and thanked all residents who came to speak.

“We don’t have a lot to say in this but we do have some sway,” he said. “We are hoping that College Station and their city council and their city manager and their development staff, will take a good look at this and understand what this means for the city of Bryan and for themselves, and for our community.

Vernon said the city is still seeking feedback from residents who have flooding concerns.

To fill out the survey and view the Flood Mitigation Plan, visit bryantx.gov/engineering-services/flooding/.