Mission CISD and Mission city leaders are working together on a new flood prevention project. 

Instead of buying land for new projects, the city is swapping land with the district.

“We need to get our kids to school and if the streets are flooded, they can't get there,” Mission Mayor Norie Gonzalez said. “So this is going to be a win-win for the school district and the city.”

Gonzalez said the city has had to get creative with their projects.

“We've been looking for methods of mitigating drainage issues in the south side, or just north of the expressway in Mission,” Gonzalez said. “And there hasn't been a lot of options." 

According to Gonzalez, the city isn’t allowed to widen current drainage pipes near the expressway. So the city and Mission CISD are swapping pieces of land. 

The school district is donating land near Castro Elementary School, and inside the athletic field at Bryan Elementary. 

Gonzalez says they'll build retention ponds in those properties to temporarily hold water when the main drain is full. 

“We're just hoping to hold on to the water for a little bit ‘til our systems clear up, and then drain the water into the rest of the system,” Gonzalez said.

In exchange, the city is donating land they own near Bryan elementary for the district to use as overflow parking.

Neither the district nor the city is paying for the land, but the city will pay for building the retention ponds. 

“The cost is going to be minimal because we will be doing most of the work in house, but we don't have the numbers yet,” Gonzalez said.

As part of the agreement, the city will also have to make sure the pieces of land they’ll receive can still be safe for students to use. 

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