Trinity River Levee Worries Sink Minor League Ballpark

A proposed minor league baseball park and mixed use river-walk development is dead because of levee safety concerns along the Dallas Trinity River.

The U.S. Army Corp of Engineers has “decertified” the Dallas levees.

Ballpark developer Dick Seib said decertification makes it as though the levees do not exist.

“You’d have to build in such a way as to elevate the structure out of the flood plain, which isn’t feasible,” Seib said.

The proposed site for the $500 million development was adjacent to the levees on Riverfront Boulevard at Cadiz Street.

The former Industrial Boulevard was recently renamed Riverfront by the city in hopes of attracting more re-development along the river.

Seib said that re-development is extremely unlikely under the current circumstances.

“We’re talking about billions of dollars of development that can not occur,” Seib said.

City officials say Dallas would still grant building permits in the area if proper conditions are met, and the city is trying to solve the levee concerns.

“We’re working very closely to get that 100-year floodplain designation re-established,” said Dave Neumann, chairman of the Dallas City Council Trinity River Corridor Committee.

Neumann said recent corp approval for completion of a new bridge over the levees provides encouragement that approval will come for the rest of the levee system.

“We’re going through this process of creating the engineering studies that prove that the levees, with some slight changes, are secure for the 100-year flood events,” Neumann said.
 

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