District 7 Hot Topics: Flooding, development

by Jeremy Morrison

Top concerns among residents of Pensacola’s western flank — issues such as roadway safety, a wild housing boom and flooding — were discussed during a city government town hall event Wednesday evening. The public forum, held at the Sanders Beach Corine Jones Resource Center, allowed residents of the city’s District 7 to speak with their Pensacola City Councilman Delarian Wiggins and Mayor Grover Robinson.

“It appears that we don’t have a long-term plan to fix Main Street flooding,” resident Michael Rafferty addressed the event’s marquee topics head-on.

The western area of downtown struggles with recognized flooding issues. The city has worked to address some areas, but stretches of Main Street heading out of downtown remain problematic.

Mayor Robinson said that a larger stormwater outflow pipe — a 60-inch pipe — is needed to accommodate water flowing in from Barrancas Avenue. Such work, however, is hindered by the existing railroad track along Main.

“For us to get the right of way for us to obtain what we want to do, we really need to get rid of the railroad tracks; that’s been one of the main things I’ve been trying to focus on, is to push out the railroad and then us have that,” Robinson explained, adding that some funding had recently been secured to conduct some design work on this project.

Chris Curb, a flooding and drainage advisor for the non-profit organization Flood Defenders, also addressed the issue of flooding. In addition to calling into question the city’s approach to mitigating flood risks of the future — “your stormwater model does not take into consideration sea level rise, it also does not take into consideration climate change” — he also specifically cited an area just west of Pensacola City Hall, notably in proximity to the residence of vocal local environmental advocate Dr. Gloria Horning, which floods regularly, including the overflowing of sewage into the roadway.

“And it doesn’t even have to be in a storm surge; it can be high tide and a pretty good rain,” Curb said. “I mean, you’ve got crap bubbling out on your street — that is not ECUA’s responsibility; that’s is y’all’s responsibility because it is your road.”

Mayor Robinson noted that the city was working with the Emerald Coast Utility Authority to locate and remedy trouble spots downtown where sewage was infiltrating the stormwater system — “we’ll work with them first to get the lowest fruit” — but said the city was also actively addressing flooding issues citywide.

“We’ve got a number of challenges with flooding, but we invest in them,” Robinson said.

“We know that Gloria Horning has been going through some issues,” added Councilman Wiggins, “so we’ve been working very hard and diligently trying to help mitigate some of those concerns she’s having with flooding.”

Another resident of the Sanders Beach neighborhood, an area where new construction has increased significantly in recent years, often involving the removal of longtime residences, addressed some concerns regarding this new development and changes to the fabric of the neighborhood.

“You drive down the street and one day there’s a third-acre lot, with a house and four trees, and the next day you drive by and that house is gone and there’s four houses and no trees, and it’s impacting a lot of things,” the man said. “There’s no wind, there’s no shade, there’s no trees, there’s no grass and very quickly the entire neighborhood is becoming overwhelmed with these houses that look exactly the same. So the neighborhood has no culture, no heritage, none of that stuff.”

Asked if the city had a plan in place to manage such cookie-cutter development and associated issues such as increased traffic, Mayor Robinson acknowledged the concerns but said that developers are held to existing code and zoning regulations and also that such development may be appropriate if done well to address the issue of an affordable housing shortage.

“Those things, a little of the yin and yang, kind of going together, is what we work with,” Robinson said, adding that the city was seeking to find a way to better accommodate such growth and also maintain a particular area’s identify. “We’re trying to look at doing the same kind of thing that begins to create some variation in what’s out there, so hopefully the product is not everything’s the same, because then it loses that character.”

Gloria Lemming asked Robinson and Wiggins about the possibility of placing a crosswalk at the six-way stop at Government Street and Barrancas Avenue to make it a safer crossing for pedestrians.

“That intersection there, it’s pretty brutal,” she said.

“I think we can look at that with public works,” Mayor Robinson said.

Roadway safety had also been brought up by Rafferty, who cited speeding traffic along Government Street.

“Somebody’s going to get hurt, I guarantee it,” the resident said, suggesting a stop sign at Government and E streets, as well as making the road a no-passing zone.

Robinson agreed that the suggestions were “something that we can totally look at here” and Deputy City Administrator David Forte said that a study on the issue could be conducted once funding was secured.

“That’s great, but just remember, it cost very little to put in two stop signs,” Rafferty noted.

Also speaking at the June 8 town hall was former District 7 councilwoman and current mayoral candidate Jewell Cannada-Wynn, who spoke about the issue of landlords having tenants in the area sign month-to-month leases.

“One of the big issues is, when the landlord comes and says, you’ve gotta go,’” Cannda-Wynn said, stressing that anyone experiencing problems on this front should contact the Human Relations Commission.

Also discussed during the forum was the lack of trees, and thus high temperatures, at the new Kiwanis Park dog park.

“We’ve got trees, we put a bunch of-’em in parks and if we don’t have-’em in Kiwanis, we’ll put it in our next round,” Mayor Robinson said, excitedly informing those in attendance about the “ton of money in the tree fund” and how the city is putting it to use to replenish the tree canopy.