After a public comment period at the May 10 council meeting, City Council accepted the plan as an informational resource for future projects the city could pursue.
Mayor Linda Anthony said drainage is one of three infrastructure concerns facing West Lake Hills, with roads and city facilities being the other two. The city is pursuing studies into the three areas, which could be completed by the fall, she said. Additionally, after the city reviews this information, it could begin exploring a bond to fund improvements to all three areas of focus, she said.
"This is going to be a very detailed process [with community involvement]," Anthony said. "To my knowledge [a bond] isn’t something West Lake Hills has ever done, but the reality is the city just can’t fund the needed repairs out of our annual operating expenses anymore."
K. Friese and Associates began the drainage study with the evaluation process, or Phase 1, in May 2015, project engineer Travis Kaatz said. In Phase 1, engineers created an inventory of areas that had shown drainage issues, reviewed city codes, worked with city staff to gain an institutional knowledge of the area and sent a survey to residents to get public feedback, he said.“With all of that information, we created 57 areas of interest with drainage concerns and then developed criteria on how to rank and prioritize the areas,” Kaatz said.
Kaatz said the Phase 2 areas of interest were prioritized based on the following criteria:
- risk to public safety as a result of flooding in the area;
- potential damage to existing infrastructure as a result of flooding in the area;
- the frequency the city has had to maintain the area when flooded;
- public awareness of the area’s flooding problem;
- possible permitting a solution may require;
- possible acquisition of right of way a solution may require; and
- possible coordination among different groups that a solution may require.
After prioritization, he said areas of interest were grouped into 15 capital improvement projects based on what a contractor could complete in one mobilization and how traffic would be impacted by the projects. The projects were conceptualized, and cost estimates were determined for each, Kaatz said.
Kaatz said the final step in the process is to assist the city in future planning and make sure it gets the most “bang for its buck” with the projects the council may pursue.
