PALMVIEW, Texas- The City of Palmview has been awarded $540,475.61 by the Texas General Land Office. Palmview is one of 14 Hidalgo and Cameron Counties entities that will share more than $12.5 million combined for infrastructure projects in the Lower Rio Grande Valley. The General Land Commissioner Dawn Buckingham made the announcement during a press conference in Weslaco on February 15. Councilmember Benito Hernandez and City Manager Michael Leo were in attendance to accept the grant award.
Palmview’s award is specifically for the Riverside Estates Subdivision which was submerged by water during the flood event of 2018.
During the event, many streets were flooded such as Azucena, Claveles, Magnolia, and Tulipan Streets along with surrounding areas on Bougainvillea Street.
Mayor Rick Villarreal says this is great news for the city, especially for the residents in the affected area. “This money will go a long way toward improving the drainage system in this neighborhood and hopefully give residents peace of mind that their homes won’t get flooded.”
The drainage improvements include adding storm inlets at the end of each cul-de-sac. Stormwater captured via the inlets will be carried through an underground storm drainpipe system which drains into an existing drainage easement at the south end of the subdivision toward the east to a proposed detention pond outfall location.
The ultimate outfall from the detention pond will be into a roadside ditch located on the west side of Silver Spur Lane at a controlled release rate to improve any adverse drainage impacts to the existing ditch. In all the project includes four storm inlets; five manholes; about 1,156 linear feet of underground storm drainpipe; 1,320 linear feet of drainage ditch and the expansion of a detention pond.
City Manager Michael Leo says the community played a major role in securing these funds as they participated in a survey that was part of the grant process.
Palmview will also benefit from a $1 million grant award to Hidalgo County Pct 3 for the enhancement of the city’s primary drainage outfall. This project will expand approximately one mile of the existing Palmview Lateral system resulting in 128,831 cubic yards of additional capacity and increasing its ability to safely manage stormwater in the city and surrounding communities.
The project also includes rehabilitating or constructing of 10,278 cubic yards of embankment and constructing a 5.22-acre retention pond adjacent to the existing channel.
The other award recipients include the cities of Alamo, Alton, Combes, Donna, Edinburg, HIDCO, La Feria, La Villa, Mercedes, Mission, Progresso, and Rio Hondo.
A timeline for the projects is forthcoming.
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