Smith Branch area houses are in flood plain

In September 2010, as Tropical Storm Hermine moved through Central Texas, Jose Rodriguez was asleep in his home on 22nd Street in the San Jose neighborhood when he awoke to about 3 feet of water in his house.

Rodriguez, who is partially paralyzed, said he was carried out of his home by his son.

"I'm handicapped, and I almost drowned [in the flood]," Rodriguez said. "If they wouldn't have woke me up, I would have drowned."

The storm, which produced more than 14 inches of rain in Georgetown, was the last major flooding event in the area, Transportation Director Ed Polasek said.

More than three years after the flood damaged homes in southeast Georgetown's San Jose and Quail Valley neighborhoods in the Smith Branch watershed, the city of Georgetown is proceeding with a plan to buy out up to 16 properties located in the flood plain.

"The problem when it does flood is what it costs [the homeowners], what it costs the city for emergency response, what it costs the city in insurance rates, and what it costs the community in the time and effort for cleanup," Polasek said. "For a community to allow development in its flood plains causes more downstream and upstream impacts to adjacent property owners who may not have been in the flood plain."

Polasek said residents have said it has flooded at least three times in the past 20 years.

Although parts of Williamson County received heavy rainfall Oct. 30–31, including Hutto with more than 9 inches of rain, the U.S. Geological Survey recorded 3.11 inches of rain at the San Gabriel River at I-35.

Flood study

After the 2010 flood, the city began working on the Smith Branch Watershed Master Plan after adding culverts under Maple Street in 2011 to improve drainage in the area.

Although the project removed 11 homes from the flood plain, there were still homes located in the flood plain that were affected by Smith Branch, Polasek said.

The master plan, completed by engineering firm Kasberg, Patrick and Associates LP, outlined several options to remove the properties from the flood plain, including a buyout option, which came in at about $3 million and was the lowest cost. Other options, ranging in cost from about $4 million to more than $8 million, included widening Smith Branch and building detention ponds, Polasek said.

"[KPA] looked at many alternatives for a 100-year-storm event including [the] existing developed conditions and future developed conditions," KPA partner David Patrick told the City Council at its Nov. 8, 2011, meeting. "We included unrealistic options [one model removing] Maple Street completely and even with that we couldn't get all of the homes out of the flood plain."

City Council approved the buyout program, which would eventually return the area to its natural condition, Polasek said.

Buyout program

The buyout program is included in the city's annual capital improvement projects budget, or CIP, which pays for infrastructure projects, and is being funded with the city's stormwater drainage fee.

"Last year [was] the first year [the city had] money in the CIP to officially change the flood plain map to our newly modeled map and to start looking at the buyout process," Polasek said. "Our intention is to get the [map] approved [by the Federal Emergency Management Agency] as quickly as possible."

Depending on the map revisions, the city has identified 15 to 16 properties, including Rodriguez's, in the flood plain—four houses and one vacant lot in the San Jose neighborhood and 10 or 11 houses on Greenbranch Drive in the Quail Valley neighborhood.

Money included in the 2013–14 CIP will be used to hire a real estate firm, which could be approved by City Council in January, to work with residents throughout the process and begin to purchase homes already for sale.

Polasek said the city anticipates spending about $1.4 million this year and an additional $1.6 million to $2 million during the next two years on the buyout program. The final cost of purchasing all 15 to 16 properties will largely depend on the real estate market and inflation costs, Polasek said.

"We intend to make sure that nobody feels like we are forcing them out without an option," he said. "That's our intent, to make sure we are fair to both the taxpayer and the residents who are being relocated."

The buyout includes a "make whole" provision, which means the city must pay homeowners the cost of a similar home located outside of the flood plain as well as moving expenses and other fees, Polasek said.

"We want to make sure we keep them part of the community and feel like we are making them whole in the process," he said, adding that the city would consider eminent domain as a "last resort" while negotiating with homeowners. "We are trying to protect the community and make this as seamless of a process as possible."