The Cedar River Watershed District and City of Austin will try to move closer to an agreement regarding the city’s North Main flood mitigation project Wednesday night.

At the 7 p.m. monthly meeting at the Jay C. Hormel Nature Center, CRWD and attorney Matt Benda will further talks with the City of Austin about the engineering effects of the North Main project. However, Benda said the two sides won’t likely finalize their discussions.

“At this point, it doesn’t look like we’ll be prepared to approve the final agreement,” Benda said about a memorandum of understanding between CRWD and the city. CRWD’s and Austin’s engineers must reach a consensus on engineering results to complete the memorandum.

Benda said if the two sides don’t approve a memorandum, it won’t necessarily halt the progress of CRWD’s draft rules, which will lay guidelines for projects within the floodplain.

“Just because we don’t have an agreement doesn’t mean we can’t move forward with the rules,” Benda said.

The CRWD board plans to vote on the draft rules at the July 20 meeting. CRWD officials have also stated multiple times that it is not their intention to impede the city’s flood mitigation project.

Other items for Wednesday’s meeting include a presentation about river cleanup results, the recently approved state water trail on the Cedar River and the progress on a new aquatic management area.