Options come with million dollar price tags
There have been significant flood events in Parkville every two to three years for the last 20 years and the Board of Aldermen is looking into ways to stop the pattern.
At a special work session Tuesday evening, the Board heard a presentation from the Army Corps of Engineers Chief of Regional Planning John Grothaus. The presentation had two primary components — how the City could protect downtown Parkville and how it could protect English Landing Park. While the two solutions are not mutually exclusive to one another, implementation of one solution could lessen the need for the other. Each has benefits and drawbacks and some include a hefty price tag.
To protect the downtown historic district and Highway 9, Grothaus said the Corps looked at systems varying from the Port-A-Dams that were used in 2011 to inflatable tubes and bladders to concrete floodwalls and “disappearing floodwalls.” The inflatable systems were ruled out quickly as options for any portion of the City, in part due to concerns that due to the nature of the Missouri River that the system could be swept downstream.
A combination of systems was ruled as most beneficial to the City and this would include construction of permanent concrete floodwalls circling downtown, as well as the installation of an EKO system. EKO Floodwalls are made up of a base installed in the ground or roadway and aluminum support beams and panels. The beams and panels are only installed during flood events and are stored off-site until needed.
Grothaus suggested the installation of flood walls running from high ground to the west of Main Street, running more or less parallel to the BNSF tracks, curving around the fire station, across Hwy. 9 and tying into high ground behind Cafe Cedar. Permanent walls could be built where they would not impede traffic and EKO systems installed at Main Street, East Street and Hwy. 9. The walls would be between six to 10-feet tall.
The end result would be similar to floodwalls now in use in Riverside, though without the accompanying levees or rolling gates.
The price tag attached to this proposal would be about $2.4 million, based on current prices. If constructed to Corps standards, Grothaus said the cost would be higher — closer to $3 million. If the City sought and received Corps cost-share funding, they would be asked to pay 35 percent of the total cost.