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Orange Park: Work needs to be done to prepare for another major storm

Council identifies primary stormwater projects on Winfred, Shaw, Johnson Slough

By Wesley LeBlanc wesley@opcfla.com
Posted 9/2/20

ORANGE PARK – The town continues to fight against the effects of Hurricane Irma three years after the hurricane struck Northeast Florida.

The Orange Park Town Council gathered for a special …

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Orange Park: Work needs to be done to prepare for another major storm

Council identifies primary stormwater projects on Winfred, Shaw, Johnson Slough


Posted

ORANGE PARK – The town continues to fight against the effects of Hurricane Irma three years after the hurricane struck Northeast Florida.

The Orange Park Town Council gathered for a special meeting on Aug. 27 to reassess its current stormwater projects and determine how to tackle a nearly $10 million challenge.

“If we have another Irma, it won’t make a difference what we do,” Mayor Alan Watt said, referencing how Irma is a 100-year event that simply cannot be accounted for in hurricane preparedness. “The problem is that if we have one of these afternoon heavy showers with just a couple inches of rain, water comes right out of the creek. It’s that quick and that’s what we’re really trying to deal with here.”

As Watt pointed out during the meeting, the town can’t do much to stop a 100-year event like Irma. But it’s important for the town to ensure it's prepared for every storm that happens in between.

Town manager Sarah Campbell listed the poorest performing areas in town in terms of stormwater maintenance and the majority of the meeting focused on Dudley Branch and Johnson Slough.

The town needs to remove roadway flooding of depths greater than six inches during a 25-year event, flood depths greater than 1 food on roads providing access to critical facilities during a 100-year event and remove building flooding above finished floor elevations during a 100-year event. It’s done a lot already to move toward it, but there’s still work to be done.

It’s set to purchase 13 homes in a voluntary home buyout program, for example, to remove homeowners from known-to-flood places. The homes will be torn down and the land will be turned into conservation lands.

Campbell explained to the town council during the meeting that there are $8.5 million across five potential projects to be funded that will allow the town to reach its stormwater maintenance goals.

Near-term projects identified are Winfred Drive, Shaw Street and Johnson Slough. The town has applied for $750,000 grants but would still need to fund $900,000. Short-range planning projects include Carnes Street, Nelson Drive South and Wells Road Pond. The town has applied for a $235,000 grant for Nelson Drive but would still need $2.1 million to fund the projects in full.

Medium-range projects identified include Shaw Street, Nelson Drive and Plainfield Avenue. The town has applied for $1.5 million in grants but would still need $3.2 million.

“We’ve applied for $2.5 million but still need $6.26 million to pay for a total of $8.65 million,” Campbell said.

The town council’s central conflict during the meeting came down to moving forward with projects now or soon or waiting for funding from grants to be approved and subsequently come in.

“We need to learn from our past and not limp into these projects,” council member Eddie Henley said. “These things need to be done and they need to be done immediately.”

The council didn’t make a formal vote Thursday evening but, it did recommend how it would like to proceed.

“So for follow up, you want to see the ‘incorporate sea level rise in Johnson Slough’ options,’” Campbell said. “We want to find out what the flood zone maps changed from and to and how people were notified...and we want a follow up about Hurricane Michael grant statuses.”

The town will vote at a later meeting how it wants to proceed in approving and funding certain stormwater maintenance projects.