The controversy over the Dixon Branch Creek channelization project continues.
The City has proposed a channelization project that would help cease flooding that has plagued homeowners around the creek for years. The project is supported by homeowners whose houses have been flooded by the creek, but has drawn opposition from neighborhood residents and environmental organizations who say the plan would destroy the creek’s natural beauty.
The situation has put City staff and City Councilman Glenn Box, who is trying to fulfill a campaign promise to address the flooding, in a precarious situation.
“I’m not sure there is a win-win compromise,” Box says. “Believe me, if there was, I would already be there. There’s not a compromise that’s going to make everyone happy. Someone is going to be mad.”
The Council recently approved $500,000 to develop a construction plan for the project. Funding for the channelization will come from a City bond election, which is expected to be held next year.
Box says if he pushes to get the project in the bond election, opposition could threaten the entire bond package, which may include several other important projects for our neighborhood, such as the renovation of White Rock Lake.
But at the same time, Box says something must be done with the flooding problem. The City began studying the situation more than 15 years ago, when Craig Holcomb was the area’s Councilman, Box says. After many studies, Box says channelization was seen as the best way to address the flooding.
The channelization project entails widening and increasing the creek depth, then lining it with cement that looks like limestone rock. In the process, trees along the sides of the creek would be knocked down.
City officials and engineers working on the plan say many existing trees will not be lost, and additional trees will be planted to preserve the area’s natural beauty.
Neighbors opposing the project agree something needs to be done to address the flooding, but they believe this channelization project isn’t the answer, says Mike Murphy, a member of Dixon Branch Preservation Committee, a group that opposes the channelization project.
Murphy says the group wants to ensure the City has researched every possibility before initiating channelization. And if channelization is the best answer, Murphy says the group’s members want a project that will leave the creek’s natural beauty intact.
So far, the group has met with City Council representatives and City staff, the Dallas Park Board and the Army Corps of Engineers to express its opposition, but no compromise has been reached.
The group also held a rally with neighborhood residents and students from Dallas Academy and St. John’s Episcopal School. A petition is circulating, and the group says that so far, about 2,000 signatures have been collected. A letter-writing campaign to City Council representatives also is underway. Organizations such as the Dallas League of Women Voters, Sierra Club, Save Open Space and Dallas Homeowners League have signed-on to oppose the project.
Murphy says the group is trying to build wide-spread support so it can show residents in other districts who also oppose the project.
“We’re all not a bunch of tree huggers who don’t want any compromise,” Murphy says. “We realize compromise is the answer.”
For Information Contact…
- Henry Nguyen with the Public Works Department at 948-4039.
- Elinor Seeley with the Dixon Branch Creek Preservation Group at 328-6639.
