Yuma County moves ahead with long-delayed Smucker Park drainage project

An $18.74 million drainage basin meant to protect a four-square-mile stretch around Smucker Park is moving toward a new round of construction paperwork, a step that could finally bring flood-control work back to the park after nearly three years of disruption. Yuma County expects revised construction drawings and bid documents by May, keeping the Smucker Park Detention Basin, CIP No. 3.9703, on track in the county’s engineering and flood-control capital plan.

The project sits at 2913 S Avenue A, between Yuma Regional Medical Center and West 32nd Street, in a part of town where stormwater has long been a concern. About half of the park has been closed since July 2023, when the county said the site and adjacent property would undergo flood-control construction that included new storm drainage and sewer systems, an embankment, street improvements, a floodgate, floodwall, overflow spillway and pump station. The basin is tied to a drainage master plan for the surrounding area, so the payoff reaches beyond the park fence line to nearby homes and streets that feed runoff into the basin.

Dibble CM, the contractor managing the basin work, says the design includes an earthen dam and spillway built to meet Arizona Department of Water Resources dam-safety requirements, along with a floodgate, floodwall, basin emergency overflow spillway, storm-drain system, two large concrete box culverts, outlet structures and a pathway. The company says crews will remove about 50,931 cubic yards of material and excavate about 195,912 cubic yards, keeping the excavated earth on site as fill. Utility relocation will be extensive because of the large pipe work and deep excavations.

The county’s latest capital plan lists the basin among projects under construction, but the work has been slowed by a contract fight that reached the Board of Supervisors. On February 19, 2026, county officials held an executive session to discuss the Flood Control District’s position on the Meridian Engineering contract, the status of completion and Meridian’s notice of claim. The board had already terminated the Meridian/Millennium Engineering contract on March 8, 2022, and authorized advertising for construction services after the contractor stepped away.

For people living along Avenue A and the streets that drain toward Smucker Park, the unfinished basin has meant a half-closed park and a lingering flood-control gap heading into another monsoon season. Finishing the project is intended to hold stormwater before it spreads across surrounding neighborhoods, while restoring more of Smucker Park to daily use.