Town staff has outlined a proposal for capital improvements related to storm water drainage in Fountain Hills that totals $1.53 million for the 2021/2022 fiscal year.

After wrapping up the significant drainage replacement project along Panorama Drive, staff is looking ahead to address an additional issue farther downstream in Panorama Wash.

According to Public Works Director Justin Weldy, the first step of the Panorama Drive Phase II drainage improvement is design work to address an issue with “slow-moving, stagnant groundwater.” The conditions result in a swampy area through lower Panorama Wash that creates issues with odors and mosquitoes.

Staff is requesting $80,000 in the Capital Improvement budget for the design work.

Weldy said an existing pump in Panorama Wash just east of El Lago Blvd. pumps nearly 40,000 gallons of water per day back upstream into Fountain Lake. He said this is a natural high water table and not seepage from the lake.

The proposed design will look at a pumping system that could tie into irrigation, for which the water is suitable.

A new project, which staff is asking for funding, is a detention basin off Brantley Drive south of Grande Blvd.

Weldy said severe storm events in recent years have resulted in street flooding that overflowed onto private property with potential damage.

The site for the detention basin is town property, so there are no acquisition costs. The capital funding request is for $350,000 to include design and construction, which Weldy said he hopes can be completed in a single fiscal year.

The town is continuing its work on improvements to the Golden Eagle Park flood impoundment area. This work has been a priority for the town over the past two years since flooding in 2018 and 2019 inundated ball fields in the park, resulting in hundreds of thousands of dollars in damage.

The park is by design a detention basin to prevent flooding downstream on Ashbrook Wash, but staff has determined that flow improvements can be made to prevent the kind of flooding that resulted in up to 12 feet of water behind Golden Eagle Dam.

For next fiscal year staff is proposing $900,000 for a topographic survey of the drainage basin, design of utility relocations and agency coordination with Arizona Department of Water Resources and Maricopa County Flood Control District.

Weldy said project design is 90 percent complete and hydrology and grading concepts are also nearly finished. Work to be done includes construction details and coordination for relocation of utilities including park irrigation and Fountain Hills Sanitary District facilities in the park.

There is also a request for $150,000 for town-wide stormwater infrastructure rehabilitation.

Weldy said the storm events in recent years have resulted in significant sediment and debris flow that are clogging drainage structures. Cleaning of these drains has shown that older steel pipes need preventative repairs and maintenance to avoid catastrophic failures similar to the Panorama Drive storm drain.

The project will include engineering analysis of the infrastructure to provide recommendations on how best to proceed with necessary repair or replacement of drainage structures.

The analysis will include the town inventory of 407 catch basins and more than 73,000 feet of pipe and catch basins.

Staff is also proposing $50,000 for miscellaneous drainage improvements for repairs or extension of existing drainage infrastructure to prevent erosion and damage to private property. This is an annual capital expense.