SMRF meeting to focus on Blanco flood mitigation

The San Marcos River Foundation (SMRF) will host a meeting at 6 tonight at the Price Center, 222 W. San Antonio St., about the Blanco Riverine project meant to divert flood waters from the Blanco Gardens neighborhood. The city hosted a public meeting about the project last month, but it was on the same night as the River Symposium, which SMRF said about 100 people attended. 

“This is our opportunity to learn as much as possible about how the project will be vetted or studied, to be sure harm is not done during flood events, to people downstream, and to the river – if this project is built,” SMRF Program Manager Dianne Wassenich wrote in an announcement about tonight’s meeting. 

San Marcos received $25 million from the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development for infrastructure projects to mitigate flood damage in several vulnerable areas. The Blanco Riverine project will use part of that funding, but it is short-term funding and must be used by 2022. The city is looking at a collection of projects that, together, would protect hundreds of structures in the 50-year and 100-year floodplains: the construction of a berm, a diversion and a complete bypass channel that would be 25 feet deep and 300 feet wide. The completed bypass channel would run nearly parallel to the proposed Farm to Market Road 110 between Interstate Highway 35 to just beyond State Highway 80. Water in the channel would re-enter the river between Old Bastrop Road and Don’s Fish Camp, just upstream from Martindale. Residents of Martindale have been concerned about potential impacts from the project. 

The San Marcos City Council is slated to hear options for the Blanco Riverine project on Oct. 16 and give city staff direction in going forward with design.