TO: Mayor and Members of City Council
THRU: Michael Gibson, Interim Assistant City Manager
FROM: Sheila Thomas-Ambat, Public Services Director
DATE: October 5, 2026
RE:Title
Watershed Master Plan - Cape Fear 1 Top Proposed Solutions
Title
end
end
COUNCIL DISTRICT(S):
Council District(s)
All
b
Relationship To Strategic Plan:
Supports Goal 2: Economic and Strategic Growth
Through Objective 2.5: To enhance City street connectivity, traffic flow, and stormwater systems
Executive Summary:
Staff seeks concurrence from City Council to approve staff to program the proposed solutions from the Cape Fear 1 Watershed Study into the annual CIP prioritization process and pursue grants as applicable.
Background:
The Cape Fear 1 Watershed Study has identified 13 proposed solutions at a total estimated planning level cost of $50.7M. The top 4 proposed solutions range in severity score from 1 to 10. Severity rankings are based on the following score ranges: 0 to 4 indicates low severity, 5 to 10 indicates medium severity, and 11 or higher indicates high severity. The top 4 proposed solutions range in estimated costs from $1.9M to $16.6M. The majority of these solutions include capacity expansion.
Issues/Analysis:
The top proposed solutions are represented as examples of the total 13 proposed solutions for the Cape Fear 1 Watershed. While these are the top proposed solutions for the Cape Fear 1 Watershed, all of the proposed solutions from the Cape Fear 1 Watershed will be programmed into the CIP along with proposed solutions from other completed watersheds, with Council’s approval. Proposed solutions presented herein are not moving forward to project development at this time. However, approval enables staff to program them into the Stormwater CIP prioritization process.
The prioritization of proposed solutions takes into consideration several factors before recommending them to Council for project development. Solutions are sorted based on Concern Area Score (“Worst First”) and efficacy. Staff then targets an equitable distribution between watersheds as well as strategic selections, such as a project’s ability to be considered for grant funding or a project’s proximity to other construction related activities (i.e. NCDOT improvements or Resurfacing) and incorporates other co-benefits into the decision-making process.
The prioritization of proposed solutions should not be viewed as a static list to be done in sequential order. As study areas are completed, new proposed solutions are developed that adjust priority ranking and flexibility exists in those proposed solutions ranking the highest.
All proposed solutions recommended to move forward to project development thus far have been brought before Council for approval.
Budget Impact:
There is no impact to the General Fund.
Options:
1. Council provides consensus to approve the 13 proposed solutions from the Cape Fear 1 Watershed Study to enable staff to program them into the annual CIP prioritization process and pursue grants as applicable.
2. Council does not provide consensus to approve the 13 proposed solutions from the Cape Fear 1 Watershed Study and remands back to staff with additional guidance.
Recommended Action::Recommended Action
Council provides consensus to approve the 13 proposed solutions from the Cape Fear 1 Watershed Study to enable staff to program them into the annual CIP prioritization process and pursue grants as applicable.
end
Attachments:
CityCouncilWorkSession_CapeFear1PS_FINAL.ppt