This article was originally published in The Examiner on Jan. 18, 2018.
By Eleanor Skelton
Staff Writer
Concrete sidewalks that once led down to a dock now break off abruptly in chunks that hang out over the Neches River, leaving a cliff where Riverfront Park used to be – a main downtown attraction closed indefinitely after Tropical Storm Harvey.
“It’s going to be closed for quite a while,” Beaumont’s City Manager Kyle Hayes said.
Beaumont City Council authorized a contract with an engineering firm, Lockwood, Andrews and Newman Inc. during the Jan. 9 meeting.
“They’re a very reputable firm out of Houston that has ties to the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers and FEMA,” Hayes said. “What they’ll do is make an assessment and come back to us with options and recommendations.”
For now, he said, “It’s definitely not safe for the public to be down there.”
The shoreline erosion when Harvey’s floodwaters crested late August last year took away whole sections of sidewalk and concrete, ripping out nearly half of the amphitheater.
The Neches River was 40-45 feet deep around Riverfront Park before Tropical Storm Harvey, City of Beaumont Public Works Ddirector Joe Majdalani said. A sonar survey after Harvey’s flooding shows an 80-foot hole in the river bottom, he said.
Majdalani said he expects to be able to release schematics in the next month detailing the damage to the park and the river caused by the flooding.
After Hurricane Ike, the city used FEMA funding to repair the riverbank, especially the
rockwork, stabilizing the northern section of the park, Hayes said. And like Harvey, Ike damaged the lighting and park restrooms and caused the same type of stabilization issues, he said.
Hayes said he thinks FEMA funding will be used for future park repairs as well, but explained any projects will have to be approved by the U.S. Army Corp of Engineers.
Hayes said he doesn’t have a timeline for when the assessment will be completed — right now, the city’s focus is stabilizing the shoreline.
He added that Riverfront Park will be closed for Fourth of July festivities, which will be held at The Event Centre this year.
“There’s no way we’ll be done by then,” he said.
Hayes explained that when City Council authorized borrowing $42 million back in 2013, $5 million was originally allocated for riverfront development. The city diverted $2 million of those funds to construct the Lakeside Center, near The Event Centre, which is about 55 percent complete, Hayes said. The Lakeside Center was previously known as the Best Years Senior Center.
“We have about 2.8 million [still] available, and it’s just going to sit there until we know more,” Hayes said.
Hayes said the damage continues to get worse as more parts of the bank fall into the water.
Majdalani said he estimated that the concrete amphitheater used to be 75 feet from the water, but parts of it are now falling into the Neches River.
Hayes called the havoc wreaked by Harvey “unfortunate,” adding that more visitors were starting to use the park before the storm.
“[We had] more than we’d ever seen over the last year — people working out, doing yoga, walking, running, fishing,” he said. “It had become a destination place.”
Hayes said he isn’t sure about the future of developing the riverfront now.
The Examiner previously reported in Dec. 2015 that the City of Beaumont was accepting proposals for development — including a riverfront hotel in what’s currently the Civic Center parking lot downtown.
City officials supported the idea at the time because a 2014 feasibility study by PFK Consulting found that the growth in the oil and gas industry, healthcare and education indicated strength in the market and a need for a downtown hotel.
“We don’t want to spend a lot of money down there and have it happen again,” Hayes said, considering Harvey is the third major hurricane to hit Southeast Texas in the last 12 years.
Eleanor Skelton 