City wants to solve more stormwater problems if its tax is extended

The city of Cape Girardeau has tackled stormwater flooding, but more work needs to be done, and it will take a tax extension to do it, city officials said.

Voters in April 2008 approved a 10-year sales tax to fund stormwater and parks projects. Officials listed 12 stormwater projects to be funded with the tax, along with a number of parks projects.

Ten of the stormwater projects have been completed, said Stan Polivick, assistant director of public works.

The city initially set aside $3 million for stormwater projects, but the cost has climbed. The city will have spent an estimated $4.8 million on stormwater projects by the end of 2018, according to city finance director John Richbourg.

The total expense for stormwater projects includes an estimated $1.6 million for the city's share of recently completed drainage improvements along the Mississippi River floodwall.

Polivick said two projects still are on the drawing board for logistic and cost reasons, he said. The most expensive one is the Arena Park stormwater project.

"That is the monster on the list," he said.

It is expected now to cost about $6 million, well above original cost estimates.

Another project is on hold until the Arena Park project can be done because they involve the same watershed.

Environmental issues have boosted the cost of alleviating flooding in Arena Park, Polivick said. Instead of rerouting Arena Creek, plans call for a diversion culvert to take excess flow to Cape LaCroix Creek.

Polivick said the proposed project involves construction of a double-pipe box culvert that would have to cross six streets.

"It is a pretty immense project," he said.

That project is expected to be included among projects that would be funded if voters agree to extend the stormwater and parks tax in two years, he said.

The half-cent sales tax includes a three-eighth-cent tax that expires Sept. 30, 2018, and a one-eighth-cent, permanent tax earmarked for parks and stormwater operations.

If voters extend the tax, it could generate about $40 million over 10 years, Polivick said.

The city council has not decided what projects would be funded with the tax over the next decade, which would include both parks and stormwater projects.

Polivick said city staff has identified about 35 proposed stormwater projects over eight watersheds that could be considered. Combined, those projects are expected to cost more than $20 million, he said.

But how much of the tax money would be earmarked for stormwater projects has not been determined.

Most of the revenue from the current tax has been spent on park improvements. Even so, city officials said the municipal government has addressed a number of stormwater problems.

Ward 6 Councilman Wayne Bowen said the city has made "a tremendous leap forward" in solving stormwater issues after "years of neglect."

But he and other city officials acknowledged Cape Girardeau still has stormwater challenges.

"For people whose houses and neighborhoods flood, we can't move fast enough," Bowen said.

Many of the flooding problems are in city neighborhoods that were built decades ago, before Cape Girardeau had comprehensive stormwater regulations governing developments and stormwater runoff, he said.

Bowen said city officials must make improvements in neighborhoods where backyards and streets regularly flood during storms.

While the city has stormwater regulations that govern new subdivisions, they don't address situations in which individual property owners raise the grade of their property, creating water-runoff problems for their neighbors, Bowen said.

"The development code is kind of ambiguous right now," he said, adding he would like to see the city council adopt regulations to correct the problem.

Mayor Harry Rediger said he wants the city government to look at stormwater issues by watershed rather than piecemeal. The city council is expected to hold a special study session this fall to discuss possible, future stormwater projects.

Meanwhile, the public works department's Polivick has suggested two smaller projects that could be undertaken soon at a cost of about $275,000. One would improve drainage at Bloomfield Road and Golden Street near South Kingshighway. The other involves improving drainage in the area of Edgewood and Camellia drives. Both projects involve improvements along public rights of way, eliminating the need for environmental permits, he said.

"We looked at what is affordable and can be done quickly," Polivick said.

Rediger said Cape Girardeau also has benefited from a massive, federal flood-control project that has prevented major flooding along Cape LaCroix and Walker creeks that border the heavily commercial area along Kingshighway.

The Army Corps of Engineers project cost about $40 million and took 11 years to complete. The federal government paid 75 percent of the cost, with the city paying the remainder. The city formally celebrated the project's completion in April 2004.

Rediger said without the improvements, including concrete channels to handle the excess water, the Town Plaza shopping center would have been swamped earlier this year by heavy rains.

In May 1986, 10 to 13 inches of rain fell over the drainage area. Two people died, and the flooding caused an estimated $56 million in damages to businesses and homes.

The flooding prompted government officials and civic leaders to push for the flood-control project.

Steve Cook, Cape Girardeau's public works director, recently told the city council many of the larger stormwater issues have been resolved.

"Now we are down to backyards and water on the streets," he said.

mbliss@semissourian.com

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