Cedar City officials hope drainage upgrades will help prevent repeat of last summer’s flooding issues

Written by Jeff Richards
March 29, 2022

CEDAR CITY — Officials in Cedar City are working on plans to upgrade key portions of the city’s water drainage systems in hopes the measures will help avoid a repeat of the flooding that occurred during last summer’s monsoon rainstorms.

Cedar City officials, staff and others tour the site of a planned culvert upgrade project on Center Street, Cedar City, Utah, Feb. 18, 2022 | Photo by Jeff Richards, St. George News / Cedar City News

Cedar City recently received approximately $4.1 million in federal funding as part of the American Rescue Plan Act, also called ARPA, to be used for infrastructure projects. 

“Because of the devastating floods last summer, the city administration and City Council agreed to use all of those funds to help with flood mitigation and storm drain issues,” Cedar City Council member Scott Phillips told Cedar City News. 

“While those funds will not cover all of the costs, the $4.1 million will certainly allow us to address a lot of the problems and provide emergency fixes before the monsoon season this summer,” Phillips added.

Among the first projects to receive attention is one that will increase the capacity of a culvert that runs underneath the west side of the Center Street overpass over Interstate 15, just north of the Southern Utah University off-campus student apartments that were hit hard by flooding last August.

That project calls for using a boring device to widen the tunnels underneath the road to accommodate two 54-inch diameter pipes, city engineer Jonathan Stathis said during last week’s City Council meeting.

During that meeting, the council voted unanimously to award the labor portion of that Center Street project to Precision Contractors for just under $500,000. Additionally, Southwest Plumbing Supply was chosen to provide the materials for the project, with their bid coming in at just under $200,000. Both of the winning bidders are local companies.

Another area being looked at by city officials is the Cody Drive/Cross Hollow area, which also sustained significant flooding damage last summer.

Manhole cover near the site of a planned culvert upgrade project on Center Street, Cedar City, Utah, Feb. 18, 2022 | Photo by Jeff Richards, St. George News / Cedar City News

Cedar City Mayor Garth Green said a grate became clogged with debris last summer, which in turn prevented floodwaters going into a retention basin near the Silver Silo area. That issue already is being addressed, he said.

“We have opened that channel,” he said, calling it an easy fix. “We’ve built a berm that prevents it from going down that way. With trackhoes, we just opened it up so it can do its job. That’s a no-brainer.”

Green said Jeff Hunter, who serves as superintendent of Cedar City’s street and solid waste division, and his streets department workers have also been busy clearing debris from ditches and channels throughout the city.

“Jeff Hunter, he’s amazing,” Green said. “They’ve just been working like crazy to clean the drainages out. It’s amazing how much they’ve got done.”

Green said city officials are hoping to have much of the highest priority work done by June or July, including the Center Street project.

Although city officials don’t know how much of the $4.1 million in federal funding they’ll end up spending this spring, they say there’s still plenty more work that needs to be done.

Early cost estimates to fix all of the city’s storm drain issues were projected to be in the $16-$18 million range, Phillips said.

Fellow council member Tyler Melling said the city might end up needing to increase its storm drain fees, which are currently $3.50 per month per meter for most customers.

Cedar City Manager Paul Bittmenn tours the site of a planned culvert upgrade project on Center Street, Cedar City, Utah, Feb. 18, 2022 | Photo by Jeff Richards, St. George News / Cedar City News

“Once they finish the storm drain master plan study with the new standards, we’ll have a better estimate of what it’s going to cost to go back and retrofit our entire system to a new standard that deals with more frequent, severe short-term events, rather than events that may take place over a 24-hour period,” Melling told Cedar City News. “Depending on that, that will be the basis upon which we decide whether we need to adjust the storm drain fees for existing users or, if our deficiencies are related more to new development, adjusting builder fees and construction standards.”

In other areas of Iron County outside Cedar City, similar efforts are in motion to address drainage concerns and continue with future flood mitigation efforts.

In Cedar City’s northern neighbor Enoch, where flooding caused by rainstorms also caused significant damage last summer, city officials are planning to use grants from the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s Natural Resources Conservation Service to make needed upgrades to the city’s drainage systems.

Additionally, Enoch is planning to leverage its share of ARPA funds to help pay for a new 2-million gallon culinary water tank, City Manager Rob Dotson said.

“We received a matching grant from Utah’s ARPA money and we are using additional impact fee money for the tank,” Dotson said. “We still have to borrow $776,600 for the rest.”

Unincorporated areas of Iron County also are receiving attention.

During Monday’s regular meeting of the Iron County Commission, County Engineer Richard Wilson said the county received approximately $1.1 million in NRCS flood emergency funds. 

He said the county is working up formal plans for a handful of projects that he said “will improve our future flood outlook in several places, as well as some repairs that need to be done.”

Wilson told the commissioners that a number of ditches, channels and recharge basins in unincorporated parts of the county already have been cleaned out by county work crews in preparation for the upcoming summer’s rainy season.

Photo Gallery

Copyright St. George News, SaintGeorgeUtah.com LLC, 2022, all rights reserved.

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

Jeff Richards, a native of Salt Lake City with family roots in Panguitch, lived in Moab for 20 years before joining St. George News in 2017. Jeff is a longtime journalist and secondary school teacher. He and his wife Penny are the parents of five daughters. They also have three young grandsons and one granddaughter. Jeff and his family enjoy swimming, camping, sightseeing, reading, and taking pictures.

Email: [email protected]
Twitter: @stgnews@moabjeff@stgnewssports

Free News Delivery by Email

Would you like to have the day's news stories delivered right to your inbox every evening? Enter your email below to start!