Consultants and federal sponsors presented a draft watershed plan environmental assessment (EA) for the Long Lake Bayou/Little B Bayou watershed at a public meeting in Helena–West Helena and Elaine, urging residents to submit written comments before the public comment period closes on Sept. 30, 2024.

The draft EA, funded through federal infrastructure programs and administered with the Arkansas Black Mayors Association (ABMA) as fiduciary, identifies two preferred projects: the Helena West Helena Stormwater Improvement (Plaza Street and Fourth Street corridor) and Lincoln Court stormwater improvements. Aaron, a project engineer with Olsen, said the projects combine stormwater inlets, subsurface piping, improved and enlarged ditches, culverts and small detention basins intended to capture runoff, reduce local flood depths and provide pollutant-trapping wetland areas. "Each one of these dots would be potential locations where maybe a stormwater inlet would be," Aaron said, describing how the system would move water to detention facilities and slowly release it to downstream channels.

Why it matters: planners said the watershed covers roughly 187,000 acres and includes repeated flooding that damages homes, roads and cropland. Projected construction costs are planning-level estimates: Aaron gave an estimate of about $2,200,000 for Lincoln Court and roughly $8,000,000 for the Helena West Helena package. Consultants stressed those figures are conceptual and subject to change during design and surveying.

How projects were chosen: Iconic Consulting Group and partner firms said they evaluated roughly a dozen candidate projects using a scoring rubric that incorporated monetary benefit-cost ratios plus social and environmental factors required by updated NRCS guidance and NEPA. Philip, a project presenter, told attendees the team considered both economic benefits and broader social impacts — such as access to work, emergency services and reduced infrastructure damage — when selecting the preferred alternatives.

Public input and documentation: presenters demonstrated an online story map and QR codes that link to project exhibits, prior comments and survey data. Panelists told residents that location-specific comments (addresses or clear map references), photographs or video, and contact information make comments most useful for refining designs. Keith Bridal, president of Iconic Consulting Group, said the plan is funded through federal infrastructure money administered with ABMA and encouraged participation: "This funding is comes from the, the Biden Harris, infrastructure bill," he said.

Local reaction: several residents urged faster, targeted action for chronically flooded neighborhoods. Tammy Perry Horn, a longtime resident, described repeated and disruptive flooding at her home, saying repeated promises have not produced relief: "I've been to every meeting, and I said, if I'm the only somebody in this city that come, that's fine with me because you're gonna hear me," she said. Other commenters raised concerns about clogged ditches, eroded road shoulders and near-miss traffic incidents where roadside drainage has deteriorated.

Next steps: the project team said the draft EA will be finalized after the comment period, then presented for signature so it can move into the design phase (typically an 18-month process), after which construction could be pursued. Panelists said ABMA will select design consultants once the EA and local approvals are in place and that project extents may change after field surveying. The meeting concluded with staff offering to stay to collect additional input; no motions or formal votes were taken.

Questions, comments and the draft EA are available via the project's website and by email (hwhwatershed@keikogroup.com); the deadline for official comments in the EA record is Sept. 30, 2024.