Fayetteville council endorses 31 Beaver Creek 2 flood‑mitigation projects for CIP, will pursue grants

Fayetteville City Council members on Feb. 3 gave consensus to accept 31 proposed solutions from the Beaver Creek 2 watershed study and asked staff to program the projects into the annual Capital Improvements Program and pursue grants as applicable.

The motion was moved by Councilor Mahindros and seconded on the floor; council voted by consensus, unanimous with those present, to allow staff to include the Beaver Creek 2 solutions in CIP prioritization and to seek grant funding.

Alicia Lanier, managing the watershed master plan program for the city, told the council the watershed studies were started after a 2018 directive to accelerate stormwater capital work. “The ultimate goal is to visualize a flood resilient Fayetteville,” Lanier said, summarizing the city’s aims and how the studies were structured to prioritize areas with repeated flooding, isolated neighborhoods and structures at risk.

Lanier said the city has studied eight of 15 watersheds to date and has brought proposed solutions for several watersheds to council in tranches. She said the city has estimated more than $500 million in proposed solutions in completed tranches and nearly $500 million in a second tranche — figures she summarized as showing the need for about $1 billion of work citywide.

City staff also noted progress on grant funding and project delivery. Lanier said, and staff materials show, Fayetteville has won roughly $26 million in grant awards linked to watershed projects and has 10 projects in various stages of design or construction from earlier tranches.

Consultant Mark Van Auken of Arcadis, who presented solutions for Beaver Creek 2, told the council the proposed package is focused and effective. “For Beaver Creek 2, we are able to resolve all of the disconnected dwellings with it,” he said, and added the solutions eliminate most of the impacted lane length and about half of the traversable road crossings identified in the study.

Council members asked how projects would be prioritized and how grant money would be allocated. Staff said projects are being prioritized by where they produce the greatest public benefit, with emphasis on public right-of-way and the worst‑first approach to risk reduction. Several council members requested more detail on sequencing and asked staff to continue bringing tranches of solutions so the city can program them and pursue available grants.

The council’s consensus action does not itself appropriate construction funding. Staff said programming items into the CIP allows projects to be prioritized for future budget cycles and to be eligible for grant applications. Lanier and others said staff will return with further details on prioritization, design status and grant opportunities as each item advances.

Meeting materials cited that Beaver Creek 2 work started with 95 concern areas and was narrowed to 31 proposed solutions selected for efficacy and cost‑effectiveness. Lanier and the consultant highlighted that proposed projects range from lower‑cost fixes (roughly in the mid‑hundreds of thousands for some items) to multimillion‑dollar construction projects, and that projects are scored to prioritize those offering the largest reductions in hazard exposure.

Council members thanked staff for the work and for prior grant awards that have funded parts of the program; Lanier noted the program received the James Lee Witt Award from the Association of State Floodplain Managers for local excellence in floodplain management.

Staff said they will bring more detailed scheduling, estimated costs, and grant strategy for the Beaver Creek 2 projects as they prepare individual projects for CIP inclusion and grant applications.