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Amarillo staff outline plan to replace Hollywood treatment plant and upgrade River Road amid growth projections
Summary
City staff and consultants told council a new Hollywood-area water resource recovery facility and upgrades to River Road are the recommended path after a multi-year condition assessment; conceptual combined estimates ranged widely and staff said more engineering and permitting work is needed before cost certainty.
City staff and engineering consultants presented a high-level plan on May 27 for wastewater infrastructure that calls for constructing a new, modern facility at the Hollywood site, upgrading collection and lift station infrastructure and keeping River Road operational until the new plant is completed.
The long presentation reviewed the age and history of both plants (River Road traces to the 1920s, Hollywood major expansion completed in the 1990s), regulatory changes since the Clean Water Act and TCEQ rules and the agency's 75%/90% flow thresholds that require municipal planning and construction to accommodate growth. Staff said both facilities consistently operate near 75% of permitted capacity and that reaching 90% would trigger permit-driven construction obligations.
Consultants with Kimley-Horn and city staff described the recommended path: build a new water-resource-recovery facility at the Hollywood site on land the city already owns; construct a collector/lift-station pipeline from River Road to the new plant; perform a full preliminary engineering report (PER), site environmental assessment and then pursue a Construction Manager at Risk (CMAR) engagement during design. The CMAR model would bring a construction manager into the design process early to improve scheduling, constructability and price certainty.
Staff emphasized that current cost figures are conceptual. Representative ballpark estimates discussed in the meeting ranged from hundreds of millions to multiple billions of dollars for a fully phased system (staff said a single comparable project in another state had been about $800 million). Staff stressed the numbers shown were not final and that a PER, design and 30% opinion of probable cost would be needed to produce reliable budget figures.
Council directed staff to move quickly on the PER, the environmental site assessment for the property northwest of the Hollywood complex (an agenda item approved at the meeting), and a risk/asset inventory of River Road to determine which River Road systems could be repaired or must be replaced. Staff said they are pursuing multiple funding sources (bonding, TWDB, WIFIA, federal grants, Bureau of Reclamation programs and other low-interest financing) and planning a rate study to examine how utility rates could pay for phased construction. The city manager said that design and financing decisions will be phased and that council would see funding steps in the coming budget cycles.
Why this matters: Wastewater capacity and aging infrastructure constrain growth. Council and staff described the topic as a major, multi-year infrastructure undertaking with significant costs and complex regulatory and financing requirements.
What's next: PER work is underway; council approved two agenda items related to site assessment and River Road asset inventory. Staff will return with more detailed engineering, cost and funding proposals during the 2025'26 budget cycle and earlier if critical permit deadlines require it.
