CDBG-DR Orange City Mill Lake and Industrial Park Basin Drainage Improvements Design and Engineering

Volusia County’s Office of Recovery and Resiliency (ORR) is seeking statements of qualifications for this project to design Orange City's proposed drainage improvements to the Mill Lake and Industrial Park basins. This project is intended to aid in the recovery of Volusia County from the damage suffered from Hurricane Ian in September 2022 and this project is funded by a U.S. Dept. of Housing and Urban Development (“HUD”) Community Development Block Grant for Disaster Recovery (“CDBG-DR”).

The 391-acre Mill Lake Basin and the 208-acre Industrial Park Basin are urban drainage areas that encompass residential, commercial, and light industrial land uses, as well as a major roadway corridor (U.S. Highway 17/92). Both basins are classified as land-locked (closed) drainage basins with limited discharge. Currently, the flood stages in Mill Lake are controlled by a 1.5 cubic feet per second (cfs) [675 gallons per minute (gpm)] stormwater pump station that discharges to the St. Johns River and/or the City owned borrow pit at the western limit of West French Avenue. The permitted stormwater pump station includes several limitations and restrictions which prevent the City from adequately providing flood protection to the basin during extreme storm events. Like Mill Lake, the Industrial Park is currently controlled by a 1.5 cfs stormwater pump station that discharges to an existing depressional area located on City-owned Public Works property. However, since the existing depressional area has limited capacity, the stormwater pump station must be turned off even if flooding still exists within the basin (refer to Attachments C and D for the Mill Lake and Industrial Park drainage basins and existing stormwater infrastructure, respectively).

Currently, based on the stormwater runoff from the two urban drainage basins, the inadequate flood storage, and the limited pumping capacity, the Mill Lake and Industrial Park basins experience significant structural flooding for moderate to extreme storm events associated with existing residential, commercial, and light industrial buildings. In addition, the depth and duration of flooding of several roadways within both drainage basins create unsafe vehicular conditions and impacts to first responders. To address the current chronic flooding concerns that have occurred as recently as Hurricane Ian (September 2022) and Hurricane Milton (October 2024), the following is the proposed drainage improvements (refer to attached Attachment E for the proposed improvements):

1. Replace the existing 1.5 cfs stormwater pump station and install a new 25 cfs stormwater pump station for Industrial Park and discharge to proposed Mill Lake pump station. The proposed connection from Industrial Park to Mill Lake will be accomplished by 2,800 feet of a 30-inch force main within the South Thorpe Avenue right-of-way to East Blue Springs Boulevard.
2. Replace the existing 1.5 cfs stormwater pump station and install a new 50 cfs stormwater pump station for Mill Lake and discharge it to the City’s existing borrow pit located south of West French Avenue and east of Blue Spring State Park. The proposed connection from Mill Lake to the borrow pit will be accomplished by 13,750 feet of a 36-inch force main within the West Blue Springs Avenue right-of-way, as well as the existing Florida Department of Transportation (FDOT) easement that runs parallel to the railroad right-of-way or along the route of the current 10-inch force main that currently runs from W. Blue Springs directly to the borrow pit via Cedar Lane.
3. Regarding the borrow pit, the City purchased the 60-acre parcel to serve as a reservoir to accommodate the pumped floodwaters from Mill Lake and Industrial Park. The borrow pit is approximately 35-feet deep and provides significant capacity for the proposed project, as well as future flood mitigation projects such as the unnamed lake associated with East Graves Avenue and Marshall Pond located west of U.S. Highway 17/92. The borrow pit will also provide excellent recharge capabilities to benefit Blue Spring. Lastly, the borrow pit allows the City to no longer pump to the St. Johns River which eliminates future pollutant loads to the river and associated SJRWMD Permit restrictions to flood discharges.

The City’s Public Works Stormwater Division will be responsible for the required operation and maintenance of the proposed stormwater pump stations, force mains, and generators.