Since flood damage in early October last year the Town of Fountain Hills has spent nearly $340,000 restoring damaged ballfields and, as the work is nearing completion, staff anticipates finishing approximately $165,000 under budget, according to Community Services Director Rachael Goodwin.

Goodwin was providing the Town Council with an update on the project at its regular session on Feb. 5. She said the weather has created challenges for getting the work done, but they hope to be able to open the ball fields to activity by early March.

Goodwin said she is pleased that most of the potential users for the fields have been very patient with the town and are looking forward to getting their events scheduled on the new fields.

A rain storm on Oct. 2 last year dropped more than two inches of precipitation in the McDowell Mountains in a short period of time. That water flowed downstream in three washes that converge in Golden Eagle Park behind the flood control detention dam. There was up to six feet of water at the dam with about three feet along the interior fences and inside the lower level of the park control building.

Since the flood, staff has had to wait until the sediment and debris dried out enough for removal. There was 200 tons of material removed from the ball fields. Restoration has required 200,000 square feet of new turf and tons of infield mix for the infield and warning tracks on each of the three fields.

Repairs were also needed to the irrigation systems on each field including sprinkler heads and electrical components.

Town Manager Grady Miller said they were fortunate in that motorized equipment stored in the lower level of the control building was all able to be repaired with no replacement needed.

Backstops and fencing was replaced where needed, and some of that work had already been scheduled and budgeted to be done this fiscal year.

Goodwin said remaining work includes installation of bases and pitching rubbers, removal and replacement of concrete walkways behind the backstops and bleacher areas, shade structures for the bleacher areas and a final cleanup in the areas between the fields and behind backstops.

“I want to thank the council for trusting us with funding to address these emergency measures,” Miller said.

Councilman Mike Scharnow had been a member of the early Parks and Recreation Commission that designed and began construction at Golden Eagle Park.

“I was out there on Oct. 3 and it was really heartbreaking to see,” Scharnow said. “It is great to see what a good job staff has done getting this back in order.”

Wash channels

Another aspect of the flooding has the town taking as much action as possible to prevent another such severe episode. Public Works Director Justin Weldy has taken the lead in cleaning out the wash channels and area behind the dam so water flow can be handled better before flooding starts.

While the ballfield area in the park is designated and designed as a flood impoundment area, there is no reason for that amount of damage, according to Weldy.

Work was done to remove tons of sediment and rocks from the three major wash channels into the park and the plan is to create “sediment drop basins.” Weldy said such basins are cut below grade level and slow water down and allow sediment and debris to drop out of the flow. One such basin has already been dug in Bristol Wash, just inside the park from Golden Eagle Boulevard. Weldy said this will act as a test to see how the concept works and how it might be improved at other locations.

Weldy said the town received assistance from Carume Contracting, a local contractor, in clearing the wash channels, and Verde Valley Nursery worked on getting overgrown vegetation under control.

Constructing the basins at other locations around the park will be a long-term project to be budgeted over future years. Staff is proposing to hire a consultant who has already been working with the Flood Control District in Fountain Hills and is already familiar with the terrain and has completed some work in the planned study area upstream from the park.

Weldy said public works has spent about $175,000 on this work to date.