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Engineers recommend cleaning existing channel for Bluff Drainage Project; alternatives would cost far more
Summary
DGR Engineering recommended Alternative 1 — clearing and regrading the existing Bluffs drainage channel — as the least costly and least environmentally impactful approach. Alternatives that relocate the channel would require park and sewer relocation and cost roughly $1.8–$1.9 million or more.
Trent Bruce of DGR Engineering told the City Council that the Bluffs Drainage Project should proceed with Alternative 1, which focuses on cleaning and regrading the existing channel to restore intended drainage function and allow city maintenance access.
Bruce outlined the program history, explaining the city created an annual drainage-maintenance fund in recent years to finance projects that previously lacked a dedicated funding source. The Bluffs channel had become overgrown with invasive trees and debris that traps sediment and blocks flow, and the project has been prioritized in the capital improvements plan as a phased effort.
Alternative 1 would remove deadfall and overgrowth, re-establish access to an existing sanitary sewer line and allow routine mowing and erosion-control maintenance. Bruce said that approach would minimize impacts to the nearby park and trail and be “least environmentally impactful,” while enabling staff to reach sewer infrastructure that is currently inaccessible.
Council members pressed Bruce on other options. Two alternatives that would relocate the channel to preserve existing trees would require displacing the park, relocating trails and, importantly, moving sanitary sewer infrastructure. Bruce estimated those options would be roughly three to four times more expensive than Alternative 1 — about $1.8 million to $1.9 million — while a box-culvert or buried-pipe solution had a preliminary estimate near $4 million and was judged not feasible for the maintenance fund.
Residents’ preference to keep trees prompted the engineers to study additional options and produce a landscaping plan that illustrates how appropriate, noninvasive trees could be planted alongside the drainageway (not in the flow path) after clearing. Bruce said staff plans another neighborhood meeting to review all four options plus the landscaping proposal before bidding any work. He said construction is currently planned for winter 2027, pending selection of a preferred alternative.
Council and staff agreed to hold a follow-up neighborhood meeting rather than vote on a plan that night. The next steps are to present the refined options and the landscaping concept to residents, finalize the chosen alternative, and then proceed to bid the Phase 1 work in advance of the planned 2027 construction window.
