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Since 2007, Bronxville has endured nearly $30 million in damages during major storms due to periodic flooding in the Midland Valley Drainage Basin near Bronxville High School. Earlier this month, officials at the school district approved the preliminary design of the project, with construction set to kick off as soon as January.
Last year, the village received a Federal Emergency Management Agency grant that will cover 75 percent of the $6.8 million project. Now, Bronxville Board of Education trustees must seek State Environmental Quality Review Act approval and bring it to a public vote for residents to approve the local share of the project, which amounts to $1.7 million.
According to Paul Pelusio, the engineer who is shaping this project, the plan includes installing a large network of pipes under Hayes Field that would detain floodwater and prevent it from backing up into the school, as it did in 2007, with disastrous results. The proposal also includes a dedicated pipe that would be installed behind Village Hall that would deliver storm water back into the Bronx River.
A storm water pumping station on the Midland Avenue side of the school, would also be utilized during and after flooding. Due to construction, Hayes Field would be inaccessible during the spring sports season.
As part of the construction, the plan includes a retaining wall, protective netting, scoreboard and portable bleachers at Hayes Field. It also ensures that the district will maintain easy access to the playground at the elementary school.
“The (synthetic field) would provide the district with more durable, flexible field space at a time when enrollments and athletic participation is rising,” Schools Superintendent David Quattrone noted. “The newly configured field space, designed by (district architect firm) KG&D Architecture, would also include 31 additional parking spaces to the current inventory.”
When construction is complete, the district plans to restore Hayes Field and install a synthetic turf to create additional field space for students and student-athletes. If the proposal remains on schedule, construction could begin in January, and completed in time for the 2015 academic year.
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