Consultants say upsizing Oak Street trunk line would reduce flooding in Melbourne Beach's Basin 10

David Baggett, vice president and engineering manager at Haley Ward, told the Melbourne Beach commission at a workshop meeting that a hydraulic and field survey of Basin 10 shows the neighborhood's storm system generally prevents finished-floor flooding except under an extreme 100-year event but does allow road and driveway ponding during more frequent storms.

Baggett said the firm modeled 10 storm scenarios with StormWise and used updated drone photogrammetry and targeted field surveys to map inlets, pipe inverts and rim elevations. "We don't see anything hit finished floors until you get to the hundred-year storm," Baggett said, noting the model equates that event to about 13 inches of rain in 24 hours. He added that the system typically shows road ponding in 5-year, 24-hour storms (about 6 inches) and that most ponding clears within one to five hours.

Why it matters: residents reported repeated incidents in which floodwater reached front doors and garages, sometimes yearly. The report and residents' testimony give the town a technical baseline to set priorities, scope design work and budget for capital improvements.

What the analysis found

- Constrained trunk line: Baggett identified a trunk run under Oak Street between Cherry/Rosewood and the outfall that is hydraulically limiting. Surveyors found nonstandard diameters in the field (one measured about 32 inches where a 36-inch or larger pipe is typical). In model runs that upsize that trunk run, peak stages upstream drop noticeably, Baggett said.

- Localized bottlenecks and long flow paths: Several eastwest streets (notably Rosewood and Cherry) funnel runoff long distances to single inlets; that concentration of contributing area to single inlet points increases ponding during longer-duration storms.

- Field issues and maintenance: Haley Ward noted some shallow inlet boxes and baffle elements that act as hydraulic hindrances if not maintained. The consultant recommended limited upstream inspection and cleaning before or concurrent with design work.

Public concerns and evidence

Multiple residents described increasingly frequent inundation of driveways and garages in the past five years. "My driveway is like a canal," said Chris Kim of Cedar Lane, who told the commission he has documented several events and said water has reached front doors in recent years. Eric Sander offered video evidence of an October 2024 flood and pressed whether the model included short, intense storms; Baggett said the model included a range of intensities and durations and that short, intense storms drive the need for capacity.

Recommended next steps and costs

Haley Ward recommended a pragmatic sequence: (1) limited CCTV (TV) inspection of critical runs to confirm as-built pipe sizes and detect blockages; (2) targeted design analyses and preliminary design for upsizing the trunk run around Oak Street; and (3) consideration of adding inlets and local underground infiltration where feasible upstream of constrained links. Baggett said a comprehensive CCTV of Basin 10 had been quoted earlier at about $9,000; he emphasized that TVing can be focused to selected reaches to reduce cost.

Commission response and schedule

Commissioners asked the firm to return with an "a la carte" menu of next tasks (scoped CCTV runs, a trunk-line upsizing design package, inlet-addition options, and engineer's probable cost estimates) so the town can evaluate budget priorities during the upcoming budget cycle. The commission directed staff and the consultant to prepare prioritized scopes and cost estimates to inform decisions at a future meeting.

What is not decided

No contract or construction work was authorized at the workshop. The consultant stressed the model assumed pipes are free-flowing; where the town elects to replace a pipe, TVing may be redundant for that section because replacement would address any hidden failure. Baggett also said adding a second outfall was structurally possible but costly and likely infeasible because of property/easement constraints.

The meeting closed with public-works and staff follow-up commitments on maintenance scheduling and county cooperation for baffle-box cleaning; commissioners moved to adjourn at the end of the workshop.

Ending

Haley Ward will provide a prioritized set of next-step tasks and cost estimates for commission review; the town has not yet scheduled a formal vote on design or construction funding.