Carson City neighborhood has experienced flooding for 50 years, a solution is now in sight

A 50-year-old flooding issue in a Carson City neighborhood could finally see a solution with the “North Carson Area Drainage Plan” proposed by Carson City Public Works.

According to Robert Fellows, P.E., Chief Stormwater Engineer for Public Works, an issue involving flooding or “ponding” in a particular Carson City neighborhood has been on the books as an issue since Carson City was still Ormsby County, going back to the 1970s.

The issue, according to Fellows, is caused by the original builder for the neighborhood which includes Carmine Street and Sneddon Way, a particular intersection that sees its fair share of flooding.

The entire neighborhood is built on perfectly flat ground, which allows for no drainage. Compounded with the fact that there are no curbs or gutters throughout the Airport Road area, the water pools together and stagnates, and usually the only way the street clears is through simple evaporation.

The new North Carson Area Drainage Plan has identified nine flood prone areas throughout North Carson City which need to be addressed. At the top of the list is the area that includes Carmine Street and Sneddon Way, which could be rectified with the New Empire Storm Drain.

The New Empire Storm Drain plan would provide a 10-year protection to a potential 770 structures, and would cost $9.9 million to achieve.

Other areas included on the plan are Bowers Lane, Eagle Valley Golf Course, Morgan Mill Road, Goni Canyon Creek and North Goni Road, Sutro Terrace, and Conestoga Drive.

As far as what improvements will help the particular issue located at the Sneddon-Carmine intersection, Fellows said Public Works and the Board of Supervisors has been working on a plan for several years to benefit the area.

“A few years ago, the Board authorized stormwater funds to provide improvements to drainage issues around the City,” said Fellows. “This intersection is one of the drainage issues Public Works is working on to alleviate the ponding in the road. Improvements are currently being designed to allow the excess water to drain toward Airport Road and away from the intersection.”

The Stormwater Utility was created back in 2003, dedicated to fixing the city’s flooding issues. Since then, the city has provided millions of dollars of improvements to the City’s drainage infrastructure, said Fellows, but there is more that needs to be done. 

“There are other stormwater improvements needed throughout the City which would require additional funding in order to be completed,” said Fellows. “I know the stormwater rates are currently being evaluated to potentially provide additional funds to address the many other drainage issues around the city.”

Funding is always an issue for different, necessary projects around the city. Currently, the Roads department has a $15 million deficit, which was discussed at the Nov. 7 Board of Supervisors Meeting, which voted to approve a diesel tax to help generate new funding for the roads.

All Carson City projects are being funded from different monetary sources, and some are easier to draw upon. For example, the South Carson Street roundabout and the Downtown Revitalization Projects are being funded by State and Federal grants, the Redevelopment Fund, the Infrastructure Tax Fund, and other funds targeted for specific improvements.

The Stormwater Utility funds can only be used to construct drainage related improvements, and the Redevelopment Fund can only be used for Redevelopment.
 
“Simply put, drainage improvements need to be addressed by the Stormwater Utility fund and we currently do not have enough stormwater funding to address all the known drainage issues in the City,” said Fellows.

At the Board of Supervisors meeting Thursday, the Board will be discussing the sale of two properties owned by the City on Medical Parkway.

The properties together would be sold to Carson Tahoe Regional Healthcare for a total of $905,000, and staff is recommending the proceeds of the sale go to the Stormwater Utility Fund to be used for the construction of critical drainage improvements as part of the South Carson Complete Streets Project, not the North Carson Drainage Project.

However, allocating more money into the fund would be productive in any case, as it could free up other funding to go toward the North Carson Drainage Project.

The improvements to Carmine and Sneddon are anticipated to be completed in 2020, said Fellows. Until then, the little ponds off of Airport Road should probably be avoided, but considering the neighborhood has had half a century to navigate them, it shouldn’t be difficult.