The Stormwater Authority of the City of Chester broke ground on a $9.9 million project to address flooding problems in Veterans Memorial Park. For years, heavy rains would flood the park and create havoc downstream, flooding houses, businesses and the city’s only library. The debris-filled flood waters would then flow directly into the Delaware River. Efforts to address flooding in the park have been ongoing since 2019, when bioretention basins, rain gardens and catch basins were installed in both Memorial Park and Chester High School. A detailed map of the project shows a retention-type pond along the edge of the property next to the Amtrak tracks north to near the Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. statue. A paved entryway will include benches, a gazebo, an elevated boardwalk and more. Funding has been provided by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency and the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania through PennVEST. Some residents in the community, including Mayor Stefan Roots, do not support the project. Roots said, “A lake is not what I support,” adding that the authority made flooding worse by taking down trees.
Source: Daily Times; 3/19/2024