By Crystal McGough
PINSON – Thomas “Marty” Martin, of Martin Engineering, gave a presentation to the Pinson City Council Thursday night, March 17, regarding flood plain concerns in the city. The city hired Martin under contract in the fall of 2021 to perform a flood plain study and provide technical knowledge of what can be done along Pinson’s flood-prone areas.
According to Martin, there are actually five Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) creeks in what is commonly known as the Turkey Creek Water Shed. These include Turkey Creek, Dry Creek and three unnamed creeks.
“I’ve been doing this since 1974, and this was the most complex I’ve ever worked on, in trying to find a solution,” Martin said. “It’s primarily because of the typography: it’s steep in undeveloped and it’s developed down at the bottom area. Well, in hydrology, that means we’re going to have fast runoff and sharp peaks on the hydrograph.”
One of the first things Martin discovered in his investigation was that there are no master detention plans that will work in Pinson.
“The first thing I looked at was master detention, and that’s just a way to control the runoff and release it at a lesser rate than what it is, but it also manipulates the timing of when one creek runs into another creek,” he said. “We could put a detention pond on the mountain, but it’s going to be millions of dollars in cost and we’re going to have an impoundment of water hanging 100-150 feet above a prevalent highway, and I won’t do that. Plus, in today’s environmental atmosphere, it’s almost impossible to get a new lake approved. So, there is no master detention plan that I could find that would work.”
Martin said that he did find a couple of other options that could help with the flooding problems. One option would be to take advantage of government grants to build constructive wetlands.
“Since environmental issues are front and forward now, you can get a grant from the federal government to build a constructive wetland,” Martin said. “What that does, in this case, it would take a wide floodplain, like you have above the high school, above Innsbrooke, and turn that floodplain, which I believe is owned by the land trust, into a wetland, and it will be like a detention pond. That’s a real good possibility there and I’m recommending that y’all pursue that.”
Martin said that there’s another area, on Turkey Creek, where the city could do a constructive wetland, as well.
Another option would be infrastructure improvements, such as removing or replacing old bridges. According to Martin, that would not only help solve flooding at the bridges, but also lower flood elevations in citizens’ yards.
“Main Street flooding, in downtown Pinson, … in looking at that profile, it’s obvious that if the old, abandoned railroad bridge is moved, we drop flood elevations about two feet without doing anything at Main Street,” he said. “If you could remove the old railroad bridge, it would help the flooding at Main Street immediately.”
More importantly, however, the city needs to have its flood study models updated in order to make informed decisions on how to move forward.
“The information I was working with is what we know of as the effective flood study models, and the hydraulic and hydrologic models,” Martin said. “The ones in Pinson are in pretty bad shape. Two of them were done in 1977 and have never been updated … using equations that were actually developed in 1958 to come up with the flows in the creek. They are seriously out of whack.
“If you could get those models updated … that would help immensely. If we could get these flood studies straightened out so that we could take an honest look at these structures and bridges … then you could get a handle on the flooding.”
In other news, the city council approved a total of $226,175.51 worth of upgrades to be done at the Pinson Youth Sports Complex, PHCC, and Bicentennial Park. The following motions passed unanimously:
- Motion to approve Campbell Asphalt estimate for paving lot at football field – $90,958.40
- Motion to approve O. Jay Fence Company proposal for fence repairs at fields 1-4 – $121,106
- Motion to approve SA-SO quote for 100 parking bumpers for PHCC, PYSC and Bicentennial Park – $11,111.11
- Motion to approve up to $3,000 for paint for PYSC press box and dugouts, whereas the labor has been offered at no cost, as a gift to the city
The council also approved the following:
- Ordinance 2022-04, annexing 8140 and 8150 Highway 75 into the city
- Ordinance 2022-05, changing the zoning classification of 8118 Highway 75
- Motion to purchase three Xerox Brother color desktop printers, in the amount of $2,250
- Motion to approve Countertop Creations estimate to replace countertops at Rock School restrooms, in the amount of $4,350
The next meeting of the Pinson City Council will be Thursday, April 7, 2022, at Pinson City Hall. The meeting will begin at 7 p.m., following a 6:15 p.m. pre-council meeting.