Commissioners Court denounces water drainage problems caused by City
By: Jose G. Landa, Copyright 2015, Eagle Pass Business Journal, Inc.
Maverick County Commissioners Court denounced water drainage problems within the County caused by the City of Eagle Pass’ approval of new developments which adversely impact County subdivisions or residents at their special meeting held on Friday, May 29, 2015, including Zaira Street and others within Precinct 1.
Maverick County Commissioner of Precinct No. 1 Gerardo “Jerry” Morales raised the issue that residents within Precinct 1 are being affected by flooding and water drainage problems arising from land developments and subdivisions approved by the City of Eagle Pass and burdening the County with significant costs to repair the damages caused to County residents, citing the need for the City and County to work together in approving land developments and subdivisions to avoid these issues.
“What we have here are issues with several properties that fall between Zaira, Lehmann and J.M. Wheeler Streets. And it falls under the same issue where there was a new business, a car lot that was built and it was inspected by the City and they were allowed to open the car lot and raise the level of the property. While they did that, it caused some flooding and some water stagnation in all the residential lots between Lehmann and Zaira Streets,” said Morales.
“We have been trying to remedy this flooding problem for a while,” added Morales.
Morales noted that on many occasions the County has gone out there, used water pumps and other resources to alleviate the flooding and water drainage problem for County residents when it rains.
Morales stated that the County had gotten some advice from the Texas Department o of Transportation and the County’s engineer, Dan Hejl.
“Mr. Hejl recommended that we use this 18 inch pipe at the end of the street and send this water out to the canal,” said Morales.
“It is one of those issues, again, as you know, we talk to the city and the city comes back and says well, we don’t have flooding issues. They don’t but they sure do cause them out for us in the county,” said Morales.
Maverick County Judge David R. Saucedo concurred with Morales. “They (the City) create flooding issues for the county,” said Saucedo.
Morales noted that one of the things that the County had done was to clean and clear off the right of way that belongs to TXDOT.
“Three of the pipe culverts that were there were clogged up. When you approach TXDOT and tell them hey, we have this situation, it’s raining and my residents are getting flooded. They say well, we have a rotation of every 4 months. 4 months is not enough,” said Morales.
Morales stated that the County Road and Bridge Department had unclogged the three culverts and that the water had started flowing much better. “Unfortunately we are finding issues left and right,” said Morales.
Morales stated the fact that the County had contracted engineering services was going to help out with these issues.“We now have an engineer that can give us advice on how to proceed.” Added Morales.
Judge Saucedo then stated that he would like to commend Morales for worrying and taking action to assist the residents in any way possible and to continue pushing an issue to get it resolved.
After discussion, Commissioners Court approved to assist County residents with their water drainage and flooding issues.
County Commissioners regularly address water drainage and flooding issues at their meetings.
At an April 14, 2014 meeting, Commissioners Court raised concerns regarding water drainage issues of a proposed subdivision, Coronado Estates, near Eidson Road in Maverick County.
This same issue caused the County to hire a County Engineer to assist them in these types of situations or problems.
At the April 14th meeting, Commissioners Court cited flooding issues in Las Quintas Fronterizas and in the Cedar Ridge area where a commercial establishment was built on Veterans Boulevard which created more problems with water drainage and flooding issues in these areas within the County which was approved by the City of Eagle Pass.
Commissioner Morales noted that flooding was not reported in that area until the City of Eagle Pass approved this new business on South Veterans Bouldevard, allowing it to discharge its parking lot water drainage to drain into a residential street and causing the entire subdivision to become flooded during heavy rainfall or thunderstorms. The County has had to spend a lot of money and manpower in having to help their residents flooded by this City-approved business development every time it rains.
Judge Saucedo raised another issue with a detention pond that was built close to the outer limits of the City of Eagle Pass that has caused flooding and drainage issues to County subdivisions. Judge Saucedo noted that as new developments are built in the community, the County is beginning to see certain issues of concern regarding flooding and drainage issues and are only trying to address them for the residents of Maverick County who may be directly or indirectly affected by the consequences that may come from not touching basis on all issues in and out of the new developments.
Another issue that has been brought to the attention of the City of Eagle Pass administration since 2013 are flooding issues within an area along Fox Borough Drive in Precinct 1, which according to residents have fallen on deaf ears.
Issues of flooding have also been brought forth by city residents during an Eagle Pass City Council meeting held on April 9,2015 as a citizen asked city council to assist the residents of Rancho Escondido address and fix a flooding issue that has been on-going for more than 20 years.
Alma Soliz stated that her family has been living in the Rancho Escondido subdivision for more than 20 years and that flooding problems have persisted and nothing has ever been done to fix it.
“I just want you to know that in the Rancho Escondido area we have had flooding problems for approximately 22 years. And I can tell you that I really have a problem with administration that is presenting information and is calling it , I believe , I think, I guesstimate, I really have a problem because you do have your experts and to me you having those experts should have a timeline of when they are doing things. That information should be presented because then you can’t do anything with it. To me administration is doing things in a reactive way instead of in a proactive manner. So having said that as far as the flood plain you are looking at 5 to 6 years ago the firm was contracted the engineers were contracted to do the study. I have been e-mailing on this for about a year or two because my family is one of those that gets flooded,” said Soliz.
Soliz explained that when they had bought the property 22 years ago the areas were sparsely populated and that now the way the infrastructure has been set up along the years adds huge problems of flooding to the Rancho Escondido area from a lot of other areas around it.
“ I’m patient and I know I takes time but I want to there something more pro-active as far as contracting a firm and what’s the timeline because that is information that you need. What I see from administration as I have been coming to the meetings is we’re just reacting to the things as they are coming up. Be a little more proactive at least in presenting your information so we get a true sense of what’s going on.” added Soliz.
“I will continue to be patient but I also need to know that the steps are being taken to remedy the situation” concluded Soliz.
Cantu stated that the city is moving forward in structuring a remedy on the flooding issue.
City Public Works Director Hector Chavez stated that it is true that Rancho Escondido has a big issue with flooding problems but that as a result of those issues Las Hacienditas gets hit way harder with flooding issues.
“We have addressed it. We have talked to the engineers and they have made a proposal. They told us exactly what they are going to do the analysis and then come back with the alternatives, once we look at the alternatives we will come to council and make a recommendation of what we feel would be the best for the city. Once that is done we will move forward with the project. I wish we could give a deadline but we can’t because right now we are working with the engineers and as soon as we give them a contract we will require that they tell us when those plans will be ready. Once those plans are ready we can determine construction and everything else,” said Chavez.
Chavez stated that there are four areas that the City is looking to begin studies at present time, which are the Debonna, Rancho Escondido, Treasure Hills and the area North of Bibb Street, to begin addressing flooding issues.
Chavez added that the Debonna Street area is a for sure project and then they will begin looking at the Rancho Escondido area to cement a drainage analysis.
Chavez added that the engineering drainage study costs will be $98,000 and once that is done then the city can begin to ascertain the steps to address the issues on those four areas under capital improvements.
“Chavez then spoke specifically of flooding issues being experienced in the Rancho Escondido sector. “The issue right now is they get flooded but it goes underneath lateral 4 and it goes into Las Hacienditas. So we need to make sure that whatever is done there doesn’t produce more flooding to Las Hacienditas.” These 4 areas have been identified as having issue whenever we get rain. It is hard to say what is going to be needed there.” Concluded Chavez
The City of Eagle Pass is on the verge of taking on close to $10,000,000 through certificates of obligation to be used for a variety of different projects within the city limits including a miniature golf course and range, new aquatic center or improvements and other projects but it is unclear how much funding will be allocated for drainage issues if any is to be allocated.
What is certain is that the City of Eagle Pass should get together with Commissioners Court to work out a joint plan of development to avoid future flooding caused by new developments approved by the City and to develop a plan of action to remedy the existing flooding problems experienced by County residents.
