Over the last decade, the City of Elmhurst has focused heavily on stormwater mitigation. Many of our efforts in addressing flooding issues were made possible in partnership with District 205. Through Intergovernmental Agreements, the City of Elmhurst and District 205 have joined forces with the goal of alleviating hardship to hundreds of residents who have suffered through flooding during heavy rain events.
Our most recent project is located on York High School property. The College View Stormwater Improvement Project, affecting the neighborhood around York High School, will add 8.7 ac-ft of new stormwater detention for the neighborhood and will eliminate structural overland flooding for 17 homes. After the College View Stormwater Improvement Project completion, the City of Elmhurst will have completed 13 stormwater improvement projects, thereby reducing or eliminating structural overland flooding for 464 homes, and creating approximately 129 ac-ft of new detention storage since 2015.
During the construction of this project, we have recently experienced a slight delay in our completion schedule. While we had anticipated and agreed to complete this project before the beginning of the school year, we have encountered a 2-week delay due to supply issues related to the underground stormwater vaults. We apologize for not meeting this deadline, but can assure you that the contractor is now on track and traffic delays for York High School students, teachers, and parents are not expected.
Our engineers and contractors have devised a plan where construction traffic will be minimized entering and exiting the York High School property during the times of 7:30-8:30 am and 2:30-3:45 pm. This is being done to avoid the high traffic volume times around York HS. Similarly, we will also minimize construction traffic during Wednesday “late start” days.
City and D205 staff have been in constant coordination throughout construction. We are thankful to District 205 and all community members for their patience and understanding during these important stormwater improvement projects.