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Newport News unveils $4.9 million stormwater master plan with 75 projects and buyout program
Summary
City engineers presented a multi-year stormwater master plan funded in part by a $4.9 million state grant, identifying 75 projects (25 with conceptual designs), watershed modeling, buyouts of 85 properties and pilot "flood-ready homes" assistance; council asked about design standards, open ditches and funding timing.
Kathy Engel, Chief of Civil Design Engineering, told the Newport News City Council on May 26 that a four- to five-year stormwater master planning effort has produced a set of interconnected plans — a stormwater master plan, a floodplain master plan and a resilience plan — supported by a $4,900,000 Community Flood Preparedness Fund grant from the state.
Engel said the program identified 75 candidate projects across 23 watersheds, with conceptual designs already completed for about 25 projects. The team conducted field surveys, developed individual watershed plans and is roughly one-third of the way through a detailed city-wide computer model to test how proposed changes would affect flooding.
The presentation highlighted both gray infrastructure (pipes and conveyance) and nature-based solutions such as stream restoration and basin retrofits. Engel said basin retrofits can yield MS4 permit credit and improve flood storage and water quality. Example projects mentioned included pipe-capacity work on Wickham Avenue, Briarfield drainage-channel rehabilitation, Warwick Boulevard piping (which requires coordination with CSX) and larger flood-control BMPs that could double as parks.
Engel described a prioritization spreadsheet that scores projects on area served, buildings affected, social vulnerability, function (flood control or water quality) and cost to produce benefit-cost rankings tied to annual budget and staff capacity. She said the team also revised design standards to increase rainfall design values by roughly 15–20% to reflect heavier, more frequent storms and to plan for sea-level rise.
On flood mitigation programs, Engel said the city's floodplain assistance program (established in 1999) has allowed the city to purchase 85 properties and restore about 15 acres back to green space. An MOU with the Colonial Soil and Water Conservation District was cited as a channel to help private citizens with drainage problems, covering about 80% of design and construction costs in qualifying cases. Engel also described a new "flood-ready homes" pilot (phase 1) funded by a state grant to provide home evaluations and elevation certificates, with a planned phase 2 to apply for funds to subsidize contractor repairs.
Engel said the city entered FEMA's Community Rating System (CRS) as a Class 7 community in April 2022, improved to Class 6 in October 2025 (yielding a 20% discount on flood insurance premiums), and aims to reach Class 5 within about a year for a 25% discount.
Council members questioned whether the revised design standards had been discussed with the building community; Engel said the standards were informed by HRPDC recommendations and neighboring localities such as Virginia Beach, and that some developer concerns are driven by state-required standards the city must follow. Council members also raised pedestrian-safety issues tied to open roadside ditches; Engel said EPA guidance limits piping for shallow ditches, that ditches over roughly 2.5–3 feet deep are typically piped for safety, and that sidewalk and right-of-way work often depends on VDOT or external grant funding and a multi-year prioritization schedule.
No formal vote was taken; Engel said the goal is for council to adopt the plans so the city can use them for grant applications and implementation. Council members asked staff to return with prioritization details and follow-up coordination with transportation and grant programs.
