Monterey Exploring Bioretention As Part Of Flood Mitigation Plan

Monterey will begin searching for funding mechanisms to install bioretention areas throughout town.

Consulting engineer Jerry Warren said Metro Nashville has used the flood mitigation process for years.

“They kind of look like big planting areas. Basically, you go down in the ground a little bit and put in what we call select material,” Warren said. “But you get the depths so that you can put in water-loving trees and plants. The trees and the plants literally suck up a lot of the moisture. We can’t hardly do a project in Metro without having a bioretention area.”

The Board of Mayor and Aldermen approved on Monday a $124,400 bid for phase one of its stormwater improvement project. Town grant writer Dawn Kupferer said bioretention would serve as a component to that project.

“Now that we have a good plan, we can start looking for money to pay for some of this stuff,” Kupferer said. “Before, it was hard to ask a funding agency to fund something when we didn’t know exactly where we were going to start. But now we have a phase one and potentially a phase two.

Kupferer said the town could look at putting the bioretention areas around Whitaker Park and near Burks Elementary School.

“The engineer assures me there’s some good ways to slow water down and allow it to go into the ground,” Kupferer said. “We can maybe help with this problem that we’re having since we’ve had such an increase in rain over the past couple of years.”

Kupferer will report back to the board if she can locate a funding agency for bioretention.