DRAINAGE DISTRICT #1, CITY, LET CARDENAS COVER DITCH

By Juan Montoya
The Cameron County Drainage District #1 and the City of Brownsville have signed off on a request by Cardenas Development to cover a large section of a drainage ditch which some residents say could worsen flooding in the area.

The section of the ditch that drains the area just south of the Academy store and the Cardenas Rose Subdivision crosses under Old U.S. 77 and emerges on the east side besides the Texas Roadhouse Restaurant. The section that was covered with dirt is serviced with an approximately 5-foot diameter cement pipe.
It emerges on the other side and is next to a box culvert placed there by the Texas Department of Transportation to handle runoff from the expressway. The box culvert does not carry drainage ditch water.
A neighbor who witnessed the covering up of the ditch by the crew construction a new sports grill on the over a portion said that the district in effect gave up access to service the ditch over to the new owners. How the district could service the ditch without access and later covered with a paved parking lot was left in the air.
"You know how quickly we flood after a good rain?," he asked. "A couple of days ago we had a storm miss us and the ditch was already running high. If we have a real rain and something goes wrong with the pipe or it gets clogged, how will they be able to fix it."
A cursory look at the spot indicates that the neighbor has some legitimate concerns. The recent downpour that missed Brownsville nonetheless resulted in runoff water had the water level rising up to almost the top of the diameter of the pipe. Trash covered the mouth of the pipe on the west side of the expressway and a pallet and other debris were stuck at its mouth.
On the other side, the water from the district pipe was less than half, indicating that something may have clogged the drain somewhere under the expressway.
A call to the drainage district didn't yield much results or explanation on how Cardenas may have been allowed to cover the ditch and pave it over for a parking lot.
Neither new interim District #1 manager Albert Barreda (who is also a board member) nor its engineer who Scott Fry approved the Cardenas request to cover the ditch were available for comment.
Fry is no longer the district engineer. At one time he was the General Manager for  District #1 and managed the day to day operations of the district. He also managed the day to day maintenance of the district’s drainage facilities and reviewed proposed subdivisions for compliance with district regulations. Prior to that, he served as Assistant City Engineer for the City of Brownsville.

About the only one who could give any  information was a district receptionist who said that as far as she knew, the drainage ditch easement belonged to Cardenas and that he could pretty much do as he wished if the engineer approved the action.

"Mr. Fry approved the request and it got covered up," she said.

Local attorney Ernesto Gamez, a member of the district board, said that he was t aware of the action, but said he would look into the matter.

The board of directors serve two-year terms and are not elected, but rather are appointed by the Cameron County Commissioners Court, although they do levy and collect taxes. 

"How could they possibly do that and the city issue the permit to allow them to build right over the public right-of-way?" asked the neighbor.