Lines of defense: Fargo planning sandbag distribution around city

More than one-third of the 3 million sandbags volunteers are expected to fill over the next few weeks will be used in three south Fargo neighborhoods: Harwood Groves Addition, River Drive South and the Fargo Country Club, city engineering documents show.

Properties using sandbags this year are all homes that have heavily sandbagged in the past, City Engineer Mark Bittner said.

Over the past two years, home buyouts and the construction of clay levees have greatly reduced the number of sandbags needed in many neighborhoods, he said.

Sandbag totals are about half of what was needed in 2009 to protect to a level of 43 feet, City Administrator Pat Zavoral has said.

Sandbags are "the thing of last resort" when engineers plan flood protection, said Bittner.

Permanent or temporary clay levees are a preferred option, but sometimes there isn't the space between a property and the river.

"When you get into backyards, there just isn't much you can do," he said.

This year, the largest number of sandbags will go to Harwood Groves, a neighborhood near 33rd Avenue South that needs 455,436 sandbags - almost one-sixth of all sandbag needs, documents show.

Harwood Groves is one of Fargo's more upscale neighborhoods, with several homes assessed at more than $1 million, according to the city's assessment website.

"They've got large houses, and they're built right out to the edge of the riverbank, so to build bags, they have to start downhill," Bittner said of why the neighborhood requires so many sandbags.

The city is working on plans, such as permanent clay levees, to reduce the number of bags needed in Harwood Groves, he said.

"We think we can come up with a plan that we can protect most of those homes," Bittner said.

"Those areas that we can't protect, we buy," he said.

One Harwood Groves home has been bought out. In 2009, the city purchased a house at 701 Harwood Drive S. for almost $1.15 million, according to the city auditor's office.

Some Harwood Groves homeowners are building their own permanent solutions.

At least four property owners along Hackberry Drive are taking advantage of the city's flood protection incentive program, in which the city shares the cost of projects taken on by homeowners.

And there could be more private projects going up even before this year's flood, Bittner said.

Homeowners along River Drive South just south of Harwood Groves will require the second-highest share of sandbags with 329,140.

Fargo has bought out at least five houses in the 3600 block of River Drive South, and three others along the very south end are under consideration, Bittner said.

Other areas that require more than 200,000 sandbags are the Fargo Country Club, the north and south side of Drain 27, Copperfield Court Addition and Johnson Farm Addition.

Meadow Creek, another south Fargo neighborhood, required about 200,000 sandbags in 2009, documents show. A new clay levee will mean sandbagging isn't necessary this year, Bittner said.

New products are helping to reduce other areas sandbagged in 2009.

Fargo will use 5.5 miles of HESCO barriers, a half mile of AquaFence and six miles of TrapBags, new devices that reduce the labor and manpower needed to fill sandbags.

The goal is at some point to no longer need sandbags, Bittner said.

The city decided to start playing a role in private property protection during the 1997 flood. Up until then, the city didn't do anything except place stakes and tell homeowners how high to build their protection, Bittner said.

"Our philosophy is that we need to protect the entire city, and by assisting the property owners in their rear yards, we do that," he said.

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Heidi Shaffer at (701) 241-5511

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