Nashville Mayor Briley resurrects $125M downtown flood wall and protection system proposal

Mayor David Briley's administration has revived a long-debated proposal to build a downtown Nashville flood protection system that would include a flood wall — a plan the Metro Council has rejected three times despite the advice of the city's water director.

The mayor's office has added the flood protection proposal — which would now cost $125 million, up from $110 million when originally introduced in 2015 — back to the city's proposed capital improvements budget, which serves as a six-year wish list of city projects. The council will consider the budget next month after it was filed last week.

Briley, whose office is up for grabs in Thursday's special mayoral election, is now the third mayor to push the downtown flood wall and protection system, which was conceived after the city's devastating May 2010 flood.

The historic flood produced 19 inches of rainfall, killed 11 people and wreaked damage across Nashville, including the city's downtown business and tourist district south of Broadway, which sits on the west bank of the Cumberland River.

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Former mayors Megan Barry and Karl Dean both failed to win approval for the project, primarily because council members complained that more flood mitigation efforts should be given to residential neighborhoods across Davidson County that are still at risk eight years after the 2010 flood.

But Metro Water Services Director Scott Potter has sought to re-frame the debate, characterizing downtown as a neighborhood just like others. For the past year, he's been on a mission to shed light on recent flood mitigation efforts made in residential neighborhoods, saying the department in the past hadn't adequately publicized it.

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In fact, he said downtown has received none of the $143.2 million in local, state and federal funding that has gone toward new projects across Davidson County to protect against flooding since 2002. Potter is not including $3.5 million the city spent to construct a small section of the flood wall in 2015 that doubles as a wall for a dog park next to Ascend Amphitheater.

"We see downtown as a neighborhood, just like neighborhoods throughout the county," Potter said. "We haven't spent any money downtown on flood mitigation or (flood) control. The only stormwater money we've spent downtown has been replacing bicycle grates.

"Downtown is a neighborhood, and they deserve consideration just like everybody else."

Opposition to project already mounts

The water department has gone to great length to spread that message, even creating individual packets for all 35 district council members detailing information of flood-related work complete in their districts.

But some council members are already voicing resistance.

At-large Councilman Bob Mendes tweeted that he plans to propose an amendment to remove the flood wall from the capital improvement budget, like he has the past two years.

As vice mayor, Briley last fall said it's time for the council to "decide up-or-down" this spring whether to move ahead with the project, which has now lingered for three mayoral administrations.

Briley, in a new statement, said the water department has studied flood protection and "sees this plan as integral."

"It’s now up to council members to weigh that against the other needs of the city and decide," Briley said. "The hazard of flooding is not new for Nashville. What is new is the frequency and severity of storms."

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The downtown flood protection system would include a flood wall between the Cumberland River and First Avenue, consisting of a 2,100 foot-long removable wall on one stretch that would take eight hours to erect, and 900 feet of permanent wall.

The most expensive component would be a $65 million pumping station.

Funding would come from the water department's bonding for capital projects, which is backed by water department ratepayers. About $1.90 to $2 per each bill would be allocated to the downtown flood protection system. City officials say the project would not lead to higher water rates.

The water department's capital plan relies on a separate pool of funds than Metro's capital plan and the city's operating budget, which is currently facing a budget shortfall.

Flooding identified as a top 'shock' for city

The flood wall has faced setbacks three times in the council. In 2015, under Dean, the council removed funding for it. In 2016, the council again pulled funding for its construction but went ahead with preliminary design work.

Last year, the council voted 24-10 to again eliminate the proposal from the mayor's capital improvements budget.

Since then, Potter and other city officials have engaged in a series of community meetings in recent months before coming back with the proposal. He addressed the council on the flood protection system in October.

Helping steer the effort has been the new Office of Resilience that was formed with Rockefeller Foundation money to help Nashville prepare for "shocks" such as natural disasters.

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"Our relationship with water — our rivers, our streams, our weather — are clearly some of the top shocks that face the city now and in the future," said Erik Cole, chief resilience officer in the mayor's office, adding that flash-flooding and river flooding are the top two water-related risks.

"Part of the work of being a 21st-century city is being prepared for these kinds of shocks and stresses," he said.

In the latest flood protection system push, city officials are making the case that severe flooding will only increase in the future.

Flood events expected to increase

Pointing to the effects of climate change, Potter said "temperature events, rain events are more severe, and they're happening more often."

He said Nashville has had multiple severe flooding events since 2010, including one in August 2013 in Madison that produced 7.8 inches of rain in a short time.

"You have localized rain events that are of magnitudes higher than what we've historically experienced," Potter said.

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"This is when we diverge from a political discussion in the water industry, and we go directly to what the facts say; Major flooding events happen more now than they used to. And I think we need to plan for that," Potter said.

And yet he also said that no events over the past eight years has reached the level that would have triggered the flood wall be deployed.

Of the $143.4 million spent on flood protection since 2002, the city has devoted $46.8 million on a voluntary home buyout program to remove around 600 houses from flood-prone properties. Another $3.7 million has gone to new technology aimed at alerting residents when flooding is occurring.

The city has spent the bulk of dollars, $92.9 million, for additional flood mitigation programs, including pump station improvements across the county, new "watershed advisers" who monitor tributaries during rain events, and feasibility studies and preparedness plans.

"All of this work has been done exclusive from downtown, and that's very noteworthy," Potter said. "We need to fix the downtown neighborhood as well ."

Reach Joey Garrison at 615-259-8236, jgarrison@tennessean.com and on Twitter @joeygarrison.