The city of De Soto has obtained a $104,500 state grant to hire a consultant to help the city deal with flash flooding that often plagues the town.
The De Soto City Council voted unanimously Dec. 20 to accept the state Community Development Block Grant.
“It’s strictly for us to be able to hire a planning consultant to provide expertise in three areas: creation of new, affordable housing; green infrastructure; and voluntary property buyouts,” City Manager Todd Melkus said. “The main goal is for getting the (grant) is we’ve applied for property buyout (funds) the last two or three years, at least since I’ve been here, and not received them. We’ve been told a consultant can give us a better understanding of the best way to get the buyouts.
“The main goal of this grant is to assist us in preparing a more detailed plan to assist us not only in getting buyout funding in the future, but also what the property would then be used for and would there be housing available for the property owners that got bought out? We hope a plan like this may help us be more competitive in this (buyout funding) process in the future.”
He said De Soto has many properties that repeatedly have been affected when Joachim Creek floods.
“This is for the flooding areas,” Melkus said. “There are 229 properties within the flood plain. All buyouts are voluntary.”
He said the city received one response when it sought bids for a planning consultant. The response came from H3 Studio, an urban planning firm based in St. Louis. The Missouri Department of Economic Development must approve H3 Studio’s bid before the city can hire the company.
“There’s no timetable (for the approval),” Melkus said. “We’re kind of just waiting.”