Emergency Meeting After Calls To Halt Panther Island Project

TARRANT COUNTY (CBSDFW.COM) - The Tarrant Regional Water District board is holding a special meeting Tuesday to discuss the Panther Island project.

The project is relying on millions of dollars in federal funding for completion, but questions recently came up about how much of that money will come through, and when.

Panther Island is a $1 billion project to reroute the Trinity River in Fort Worth.

It's a flood control project but also comes with economic development benefits along the newly created waterfronts.

Funding comes from the city, state and federal government.

On a recent trip to Washington D.C., Fort Worth Mayor Betsy Price learned the project had been left out of the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers' budget this year.

Last week, Mayor Price and the city council agreed the City of Fort Worth would slow down, and withhold about $250M from the Panther Island project, until an audit can be done.

The Trinity River Vision Authority - which oversees the project - has repeatedly said it is confident the federal government will eventually pay.

Mayor Price is calling for an audit.