Jim Wells County opens public review on major drainage upgrades

Green Acres, Mesquite Forrest and Orange Grove could see the biggest change if Jim Wells County turns its new drainage plan into construction, with work aimed at roads, culverts, ditches and detention ponds that now have to carry stormwater through neighborhoods that have long been vulnerable when rain comes hard.

The county’s April 15 public review notice puts the project under ERR #24-065-170-F085 and says the proposed work sits in the Federal Flood Risk Management Standard floodplain and overlaps wetland areas. That means the county must give advance notice and accept public comment before moving ahead with the drainage and water-improvement package, which is being financed through the Community Development Block Grant Program administered by the Texas General Land Office.

In Green Acres, the plan stretches across 11,348 linear feet along County Roads 465 and 466, plus 3,312 linear feet on County Road 467, 2,810 linear feet on County Road 468 and 2,890 linear feet on County Road 469. The work also calls for a detention pond east of County Road 465, about 1,140 feet south of County Road 473, along with land acquisition, pipe installation, inlets, outlets, culverts, regrading of ditches, driveway repairs and street fixes. The county said the Green Acres floodplain extent was determined using the 0.2-percent flood approach.

Mesquite Forrest is also set for a broad buildout, with 5,880 linear feet of drainage work on County Roads 2111 and 211, a 200-linear-foot retention pond drain line and a retention pond southwest of that intersection. In Orange Grove, the package covers 3,450 linear feet along Grace Street, Thiel Road, Wendt Street, South Reynolds Street and 1,152 linear feet on Dibrell Street, with regraded and improved ditches, work on a drainage ditch outfall, pavement replacement and driveway repairs.

The notice says the activities will take place in multiple areas around Alice and one location around Orange Grove. A separate piece of the county’s flood-mitigation push has already advanced at 642 FM 1554 in Alice, where a February 20 ceremonial groundbreaking was scheduled for GLO #22-085-027-D268, the Rancho Alegre-Alice Acres drainage and detention project.

The new review comes after years of storm damage that county and state leaders have already tied to the need for large-scale fixes. In 2021, the Texas General Land Office announced more than $29.7 million in flood-mitigation projects for Jim Wells County, Alice and Premont, saying the money would benefit thousands of residents in majority low-to-moderate income areas. George P. Bush said the county had suffered significant flood damage no fewer than three times in six years, while County Judge Juan Rodriguez said torrential rains had made streets impassable, stranded residents, damaged utilities and hindered first responders.