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Southlake residents urge bank stabilization, not grinder pumps or lift station, at Jones Branch public forum
Summary
Residents from Simmons Court, Rainforest Court and nearby yards pressed the council to prioritize bank stabilization (Option B) for the Jones Branch sanitary sewer corridor, arguing erosion — not the gravity-fed sewer pipe — is the immediate problem and that lift stations or grinder pumps would create maintenance, safety and property-use issues.
Residents from three neighborhoods used the City of Southlake’s public forum to press the council to prioritize bank stabilization over options that would put lift stations or grinder pumps in residential areas.
Several residents described progressive erosion along Jones Branch and said the existing gravity-fed sewer system has functioned for decades. "Our sanitary system works perfectly," said Ximena Perea of Rainforest Court, urging the council to "do option B. Definitely not C or D." Perea said leaving the pipe in the creek corridor while failing to address bank stabilization would amount to "environmental negligence."
David Dowd, whose property abuts the creek, told the council a lift station in a cul-de-sac would become a permanent maintenance and nuisance site and said grinder pumps impose reliability and cost burdens on homeowners. "The grinder pump we have... has been replaced twice in the last five years," Dowd said, adding that grinder pumps can force residents to rely on hotels or other accommodations during outages.
Carol Dowd described a roughly 400-by-15-foot sewer easement across her backyard and asked the council to "be responsible for your existing infrastructure," warning that moving the pipe uphill without bank protection only "kicks the can down the road" and could create new easement impacts that limit how property owners use their back yards.
Supporters of Option B pointed to erosion as the proximate safety and asset-preservation concern. "The problem is erosion," said Perea, describing bank instability and urging the city to focus engineering and permitting efforts on bank stabilization and related mitigation rather than returning residents to grinder pumps or a lift station.
Council did not take a vote on the Jones Branch proposals during the meeting. The public forum closed after multiple residents spoke; staff and council members said they would continue evaluating the engineering options, timelines and potential impacts as the city moves forward.
