Page 15 - Jan-Feb 2021 Vol 38 No 6
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of the City. From here, Johnson City were what are now known as Founders storage. In addition to stormwater storage
moved forward with the recommendation Park and King Commons. These parks and conveyance capacity increasing, these
of implementing a Stormwater Utility to presented opportunities to create projects marked the end of fifty-year trend
navigate solutions for the decades-old additional stormwater capacity and at of businesses leaving downtown.
flooding challenges. the same time removed significant flow
Beginning of the Solution restrictions. Successes of downtown projects include:
• Property values in the downtown
Several engineering planning studies Significant downtown improvements
became a priority at the onset of the task immediately were realized by uncovering district grew 30% faster than the rest of
force. Field reconnaissance during flood culverts, removing abandoned buildings, the county.
events and detailed surveys allowed for rerouting, and regrading. Through the • There now was movement into
the creation and calibration of a working improvement of choke points, water downtown of new private sector
hydrologic model of the entire downtown. is more easily conveyed and has less investment in the form of retail,
From this, it became clear how susceptible frequency of entering overland flow restaurants, and hundreds of residential
the corridor was to even a small frequency through downtown. units.
storm. • Tax revenues from a previously derelict
Storage capacity was created at Founders corridor now are being realized at their
Serious changes needed to be made: Park by removing a warehouse structure full potential.
provision of both additional storage over 1000 feet of encapsulated creek. • Regional attraction exists for community
capacity upstream of downtown, and Additionally, channel improvements help events and festivals (significant economic
better conveyance. Albeit through some with maximizing flow into the downtown impact for each event).
community resistance, the city came culverts. If this culvert were to back up, Looking to the Future
to approve two very important items: a the park is designed to detain the water, The city was encouraged by the
stormwater master plan with proposed preventing the damaging overland flow. improved stormwater conditions
projects, and a stormwater fee to pay for downtown, and work was ongoing with the
them. Similar positive changes occurred with master plan identifying upstream regional
the opening of buildings and improvement detention improvements. The West Walnut
Through community discussions, we of culverts in and around the Boone Street Street corridor was the next area for
could identify parcels and areas where Basin and King Commons Park, the lowest improvement, requiring a large investment
significant flow restrictions could be area in the city. The Boone Street Basin with almost a mile of total streetscape cross
removed and redesigned for storage/ helps to attenuate smaller rain events, while section and utility redesign.
community space. The first two projects King Commons Park provides overflow
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View online at tnpublicworks.com 15
