Drainage study planned in south Beatrice Belvedere area

BEATRICE – The City of Beatrice has approved a grant agreement for a drainage study of the Belvedere area of south Beatrice.

The city’s cost for the study would be $3,000 with the Nebraska Emergency Management Agency, through FEMA, paying for up to $27,000 on the cost.
City Administrator Tobias Tempelmeyer says there is a year to complete the study, even though the city wasn’t told the award was being made for about three months.

"We'll work to either make the deadline or work with them to try to get an extension."

The area to be studied is between Third and Fourth Streets, from Franklin Avenue north to Sharpless Street….a distance of about eight city blocks.
"We do not have utility easements. We do not have drainage easements or those types of things in that location."

The area subject to the study drains northward to the Big Blue River….and contains low areas prone to temporary flooding during heavy rain events. The city council this week approved the agreement with NEMA for the stormwater drainage study.