Elizabethton City Council votes to accept hazard mitigation grants

ELIZABETHTON —It has been nearly 15 months since Hurricane Helene created heavy damage throughout Elizabethton, but the Elizabethton City Council is still looking for ways to mitigate the next major storm to impact the city. During the December meeting of the council, the members voted unanimously to accept four hazard mitigation grants which will be used to purchase emergency equipment, purchase flood-prone properties from willing sellers, and repave downtown streets that took the brunt of the heavy traffic caused by the closure of the Broad Street Bridge for nine months. The street resurfacing will have the most immediate impact on the city. The council voted in favor of a grant from the Governor's Response and Recovery Fund in the amount of $1,133,270.30. The staff is still assessing how many downtown roads can be resurfaced with the grant, but the hope is to use the funds to repave Sycamore Street, East E Street, and East Elk Avenue. The streets sustained excessive wear and tear when it was discovered that the Broad Street Bridge was damaged by Hurricane Helene. The bridge was closed and the traffic was rerouted to other downtown bridges to cross the Doe River. Most used the Elk Avenue Bridge. That bridge had very heavy traffic every day from the time of Hurricane Helene on Sept. 27, 2024 to July 2, 2025, when the Broad Street Bridge was reopened. City Manager Daniel Estes explained to the council that the street resurfacing was not eligible for funds from the Federal Emergency Management Agency because the damage was not directly caused by the storm. He said the damage to Broad Street Bridge was eligible for FEMA funds, but the fact the bridge was closed did not extend to the heavy traffic on the detour routes. For that reason, the resurfacing money is coming from the Governor's Response and Recovery Fund. The grant does not require a matching fund from the city. The Council also approved a Tennessee Emergency Management Agency Hazard Mitigation Grant for property acquisition. There are seven properties up for consideration, but the exact number of properties acquired by the city will not be known until all negotiations are conducted. Estes told the council that only property owners who voluntarily wanted to sell their land that is subject to flooding would be considered. No property owner would be forced to sell. But he said it is away for a property owner on such a flood prone property to get fair market value for the real estate. Estes said seven properties are currently on the list. Much of the land would be valuable to the city as extensions of city parks or bike trails. Unlike the street resurfacing grant, this one will require matching funds. It is likely the city would pay a 12.5% local match. The most conspicuous property on the list is the Tom Cowan law office property at 111 S. Main St. The appraised amount is $850,000. The city has already been in negotiations with the Cowan family because the property is adjacent to the Covered Bridge Park and would make the park more spacious and usable. Estes said negotiations are continuing. There is another property which would help expand another city park. That is the Stout Property at 226 North Riverside Drive. It has an appraised value of $425,000. That property sits on the northern boundary of Edwards Island City Park and would provide added space for future park facilities. Other properties on the list include 611 North East Street, appraised at $135,000; the property at 351 Race St., appraised at $25,000; the property at 391 Race St., appraised at $5,000; the property at 322 Race St., appraised at $4,000; and the property at 322 Race St., appraised at $1,000. Another grant approved by the council also brought back memories of the time when the Broad Street Bridge was closed by flood damage. The announcement of the closure and progress on the bridge was done with electronic message boards placed at the start of detours. These message board helped confused motorists know the problem and detour information. The city rented these electronic message boards at a cost of $400 per day. This TEMA Hazard Mitigation grant would provide $80,000 to purchase four of these electronic message boards. The fourth grant approved by council was a TEMA Harard Mitigation Grant to provide eight backup generators to city departments during severe storms. The grant would provide $1,157,071 to purchase the generators. The 25% local match would be $289,267.75. Six of the backup generators would go to the city's Water Resources Department to operate pumps when electrical power is lost. The other city operations that would receive backup generators are one for city hall and one for the Street and Sanitation Department.