The city of Park Ridge will receive receive some financial help for a project aimed at curbing flooding in a residential neighborhood, through a Stormwater Partnership Program from the Metropolitan Water Reclamation District (MWRD).
Park Ridge Public Works Director Wayne Zingsheim told the Chicago Tribune that the city requested $950,000 in its grant application, but the exact amount has not yet been announced. “It’s about half of what this project (will cost) and it’s a project the council in the past has wanted to move forward with,” he said.
The proposed project consists of an underground stormwater detention vault in the large parkway area that separates the street in two halves. The vault would briefly hold “excess stormwater that currently inundates Marvin Parkway during heavy rain events,” elected officials were told earlier this year in a memo from city staff describing the project.
The Tribune reports the project is one of 13 recommended by Christopher B. Burke Engineering in 2017 following a city-wide study. If the City Council agrees to undertake it, it will be the first of the 13 projects to reach the construction phase, City Engineer Sarah Mitchell said.
City Council learned in January that designs for the project were complete and that construction of the vault is estimated to cost $1.9 million.
The next step is for the city and MWRD to develop an intergovernmental agreement, which will allow the project to move forward, The Tribune quoted Zingsheim as saying.
Zingsheim said the city’s portion of the cost will come from sewer fund revenues.
