Title
Intergovernmental Agreements with Flood Control District of Maricopa County for American Rescue Plan Act Flood Control Projects (Ordinance S-48181)
Description
Request authorization for the City Manager, or his designee, to enter into Intergovernmental Agreements with the Flood Control District of Maricopa County for design development, permanent public easements, temporary construction easements, right-of-way acquisition, utility coordination/relocation and construction implementation of identified flood control projects and authorize allocation of $13 million from the American Rescue Plan Act Strategic Plan for completion of these projects. Further request authorization for the City Controller to accept and disburse all funds related to this item.
Report
Summary
According to the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA), floods occur in every region of the country and include inland flooding, flash floods and flooding from seasonal storms. In the past 20 years, the Flood Control District of Maricopa County and the city of Phoenix have collaborated to construct flood control improvements estimated at $300 million. Despite those investments, continued urbanization and insufficient capital investment funding has resulted in a projected $1.75 billion of additional flood control investment needs. This was most recently highlighted in 2014 when severe flooding caused significant local property damage.
The American Rescue Plan Act (ARPA) provides an opportunity to invest federal funding and leverage additional funding from the Flood Control District of Maricopa County to complete several priority flood control projects. There are two categories of flood control mitigation projects that are recommended to achieve the greatest value of community investment with these ARPA funds. The first category are local drainage mitigation projects that are identified from storm-related flood complaints by Phoenix residents that have been investigated and verified by the City. The second category are large drainage solutions from the Flood Control District's area Drainage Master Plan.
With funding from ARPA and the Flood Control District of Maricopa County, an estimated 10-14 local drainage mitigation projects would be completed along with an estimated four large drainage solutions. Criteria used to prioritize the local drainage mitigation projects for ARPA funding include:
- Confirmed flooding causing property and structural damage;
- No or minimal land acquisition required;
- Projects anticipated to be less than $1.5 million in cost;
- Proximity to known FEMA repetitive loss;
- Consideration of socioeconomic indicators consistent with ARPA program goals; and
- Environmental consideration and green infrastructure opportunities.
Financial Impact
The Public Works Department is coordinating with the Flood Control District of Maricopa County to develop an investment strategy focused on completing flood control improvements in Phoenix. The strategy would use $13 million in allocated ARPA funds to complete an estimated 10-14 local drainage mitigation projects to leverage additional Flood Control District funds for large drainage solutions.
Concurrence/Previous Council Action
The City Council approved the ARPA Strategic Plan and allocated $23 million to City infrastructure on June 8, 2021.
The City Council received an update on the potential use of $13 million of ARPA funding for stormwater flood control projects on Sept. 21, 2021.
Department
Responsible Department
This item is submitted by Deputy City Managers Karen Peters and Mario Paniagua, and the Public Works and Street Transportation departments.