Stormwater Pumping Station Project

Proposed Project Improvements

The proposed Bee Branch Stormwater Pumping Station Project involves construction of a new pump station that includes the following elements: 

  • New flood gates;
  • Replacement of the two existing flood pumps with four new pumps;
  • Replacement and updating of the electrical service to current standards; and
  • Installation of a back-up generator for the additional pumps to address the needed resiliency being demanded by the storms of recent years.

The new flood gates will be constructed on the basin side of the levee (on the west side of Kerper Boulevard) which allows for the pumps to operate more efficiently, eliminates the environmental concerns associated with the Higgins Eye Clams found on the river side of the levee, and allows for operation of the existing facility to maintain flood protection during construction of the new facility. 

The new facility will have four 90,000 gpm pumps. This allows for redundancy in the event of a pump failure. This project, along with the restored Bee Branch Creek and completed Railroad Culverts Project, will provide a system that can accommodate the flooding that occurred in the watershed between 1999 and 2011. The flooding that resulted in six presidential disaster declarations and impacted more than 1,300 homes and businesses. It also provides for additional resiliency options as rainstorms increase in both depth and intensity.

Project Status as of June 2022

Sealed bids for the proposed improvements were received on May 19, 2022. The lowest was 56.1% over the engineer’s estimate. The two bids received were within 1.4% of each other, suggesting that the bids reflected the true cost of the project and rebidding the project with the same design would likely produce similar results. Therefore, the City Council voted to rejected the bids so that other design options could be considered to reduce costs.

City staff and the project team is currently reviewing the design and project goals. This will likely result in a different design approach. For example, a design using less steel and concrete, two materials that have drastically increased in cost, would lower the project cost. A different design could also allow for phasing construction and spreading costs out over several years.

Estimated Project Schedule

  • Initiate Public Bidding Process - April 18, 2022
  • Publish Notice to Bidders, Advertise for Bids - April 22, 2022
  • Publish Public Hearing Notice on Plans & Specs - April 22, 2022
  • Public Hearing on Plans & Specifications - May 2, 2022
  • Receipt of Bids - May 19, 2022 (Bids Rejected)
  • Award Construction Contract - TBD
  • Substantially Completion Date - TBD
  • Final Completion - TBD
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