The City of Pinehurst is looking to do some major infrastructure improvements in the near future. Pinehurst received $6.8 million in a Hurricane Harvey Community Development Block Grant.
The Pinehurst City Council has awarded Waxman and Associates the contract to administer the grant funds. David Waxman explained that Pinehurst has a unique opportunity to address infrastructure problems that were considered too expensive to fix previously.
Discussions on what can be done with nearly seven million dollars in grant funds is just beginning according to Waxman. He pointed out Pinehurst can do a lot of projects with the grant in its community. An advantage for Pinehurst is it has already done a survey to show the city qualifies as 51 percent low to moderate income to do citywide projects. “Things that pose the greatest problem to the city like inflow and infiltration problems in the sewer and water lines things that the Texas Commission on Environmental Quality lands on your head about we want to try to work with those as closely as we can,” Waxman emphasized.
Pinehurst is looking to make good use of the $6.8 million in a Community Development Block Grant it has received. Schaumburg and Polk will do the engineering work to see the various infrastructure improvement projects come to fruition with the grant money.
Nestor Barroeta with Schaumburg and Polk said they have identified and applied for approval of three main projects to do with the grant. Barroeta indicated the first project will address drainage issues in the city. This would include clearing large outfalls and side ditches on many of the streets. Barroeta said, “It looks like the drainage project is a viable project for funding.”
Another project is the electrical service for the waste water treatment plant according to Barroeta. The current facility housing the electrical service for the plant is actually built below natural ground and floods every time it rains. Barroeta stated, “We’ll build a new building to put all the electrical equipment in, and it’s a project that would be worthwhile for the entire city.”
The flooding in Pinehurst from Harvey lasted several days. Barroeta pointed out that will have a long-term negative effect on streets and roads in Pinehurst. The base for those roads is damaged meaning down the road potholes will develop and edges of the streets will fail. “With this money we can do a lot of roads,” Barroeta concluded.
Pinehurst City Administrator Robbie Hood concurs in full agreement with the projects that will be addressed by Schaumburg & Polk with the grant funds. Hood believes the city can do improvements it has never had the funds to address in the past.
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