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PALM VALLEY — After struggling through years of heavy flooding, officials here are launching a $1.9 million drainage project after a judge denied the Harlingen Country Club’s request for a temporary restraining order arguing plans would damage its golf course.
For about five years, aldermen here have been planning the project aimed at removing a 60-year-old clogged drainage pipeline running under the private golf course’s 13th fairway, proposing to develop an open drainage ditch there.
“That thing is so filled up it needs to be removed,” Mayor Michael Galvan said, referring to the old pipeline. “It is all part of a much larger strategic flood mitigation plan.”
The proposed drainage ditch “has to be open so we can keep it clean and clear of debris,” he said. “In our case, the ditch will serve a large area of populated neighborhoods in Palm Valley, Harlingen, Primera, Combes and maybe as far as Santa Rosa, depending on where the most rainfall accumulates and gets diverted due to all the growth in the area upstream from Palm Valley.”
Officials proposed the project following years of heavy flooding, including a June 2019 storm that dumped about 14 inches of rain while raising floodwaters about three feet.
“There were elderly people rescued in air boats,” Galvan said.
The flood plain
To help fund the project, the Texas Water Development Board’s granting the city a $1.3 million low-interest loan while Cameron County Drainage District No. 5 is pitching in $200,000, Galvan said.
“It not only serves the population of Palm Valley but also Harlingen, Primera and Combes,” he said, referring to the project. “There’s a lot of new construction so its changing the flow of water, and it looks like a lot of that water is (flowing) toward us. We get floodwaters coming from as far as Santa Rosa. Gravity flows water downhill so we’re at the bottom of that hill.”
The project would serve as part of the drainage district’s $17.7 million plan aimed at curbing flooding across much of the surrounding area, Rolando Vela, the district’s general manager, said.
“This drainage project in Palm Valley is extremely important to mitigate flooding in the communities we serve,” he said. “When completed, it will directly benefit the Palm Valley residents along with the Harlingen residents that live on the west side of Stuart Place and the Primera residents.”
Restraining order request
On Oct. 4, the country club filed a request for a temporary restraining order in Cameron County state District Court while demanding $1 million, arguing the city’s plan to run an open drainage ditch along the 13th fairway would impact the nine-hole golf course.
In its request filed by attorney Chris Boswell, Harlingen’s former longtime mayor, the country club argued a previous administration’s “misrepresentation by officials of the city of Palm Valley … failed to disclose that the so-called ‘drainage improvements’ would ultimately result in hundreds of thousands of dollars in damage to the golf course.”
The country club argued the project “would constitute an unlawful taking and inverse condemnation of property owned by the HCC Inc. without compensation,” claiming the golf course “will incur injuries and damages including loss of members, loss of customers, loss of revenue because its usual members and others will not be able to play the golf course in its entirety.”
Meanwhile, the country club’s calling on the city to launch an additional $429,616 project aimed at repairing damages.
“Club members requested that certain remedial work be included in the plan to make the drainage improvements so that the 13th fairway would be restored to its original condition subsequent to the completion of the drainage improvements,” court documents show.
Unplayable?
At City Hall, officials argue they can’t undertake the country club’s proposed project.
“I can’t approve a higher-priced project just for the sake of aesthetics,” Galvan said. “We cannot spend tax dollars on private property to improve it to their liking. It’s not cost-effective. My conscience says I have to do what’s good for all people, not just a few.”
Galvan said the country club’s proposed $429,616 project’s price tag’s too high while the work wouldn’t drain more floodwater.
“If the alternate bid was lower and it moved more water, then we could justify the improvement, but this is not the case,” he said.
Meanwhile, Galvan argues the project would not impact play on the golf course.
“That fairway will still be playable,” he said. “It will have an immovable water hazard. There are a lot of golf courses all over the world with ditches that run through them and they also have many water features.”
Galvan said officials plan to repair any damages to the golf course.
“We will return it back to its closest original condition but with an open, improved cemented ditch, and repair any water lines or other items that are damaged as a result of machinery being used during the construction process,” he said.
Request denied
On Oct. 17, state District Judge Gloria Rincones denied the country club’s request for a restraining order.
Now, it’s unclear whether the country club plans to appeal the ruling.
On Friday, Boswell said he couldn’t comment on whether the country club would file an appeal.
Meanwhile, Galvan said an appeal would drag the case on, leading the project’s price tag to climb two to three times higher.
