New drains on Olivia Street aim to keep the neighborhood dry

Several flood mitigation projects have been completed in Port Chester, with more on the way
July 31, 2024 at 11:56 p.m.
A garbage bin floats away down Olivia Street during a heavy rainstorm in July 2023 which caused severe flooding in Port Chester. The Village has spent the last year improving the stormwater system, including a mitigation project that just concluded around Olivia Street.
A garbage bin floats away down Olivia Street during a heavy rainstorm in July 2023 which caused severe flooding in Port Chester. The Village has spent the last year improving the stormwater system, including a mitigation project that just concluded around Olivia Street. (Courtesy photo of Stacey Harris)

By DAVID TAPIA | Comments: 0 | Leave a comment
Reporter

Though it’s been well over three years, Olivia Street resident Stacey Harris still recalls the first time she saw flooding on her street.

“I remember looking out of the window and just seeing a river rushing down the street,” she said.

She’s lived in her second-floor apartment for the last 16 years, and while that has protected her from most of the impacts of flooding, she’s witnessed how disruptive it can be.

“My downstairs neighbors lost their car during the heavy rain last year,” she recounted during an interview on Monday, July 29. “And I lost heat in my building because the flooding took out the boiler.”

In her time living on Olivia Street, Harris said she’d only started seeing extreme flooding conditions in the last few years—starting with Tropical Storm Ida, which swept across the Village in September 2021.

Since then, she recounted at least two other incidents in 2023 that made her commute to the Port Chester-Rye Brook Public Library difficult.

But the Village has recently taken steps that may help her on that trek to work on future rainy days—to decrease the odds of flooding on Olivia Street.

The flooding conditions last year were not isolated issues; streets across the Village were inundated because of heavy rain.

In response, the Port Chester Board of Trustees held a work session in October 2023 to address residents’ concerns. Twenty locals spoke of their experiences and concerns with the Village’s stormwater system.

In Harris’s neighborhood, several pointed to the gym built at John F. Kennedy Elementary School in 2020 as a potential cause of the problem—her landlord was one of them, she said.

“My landlord, Andy Zaccagnino, said he hadn’t seen flooding on the street in the 40 years he’s been in Port Chester. Not until the addition had been built,” she said.

At the meeting, Village Manager Stuart Rabin said the pipelines were in dire need of updating.

Several weeks later, the Village announced multiple projects that would upgrade the drainage system. The two-phase plan, created with assistance from Delaware Engineering, began with immediate repairs to infrastructure that was damaged as a result of the heavy storm that occurred in September of that year.

Phase two involves improvements to the stormwater system in various parts of the Village. Among them is a $650,000 project to upgrade water drainage on several streets, and $165,000 of that went towards work on Olivia Street which is now complete.

One project down, several to go

According to Rabin, engineers determined two aspects of the system around Olivia Street had failed after enduring the heavy rain from the various storms over the years, which contributed to flooding in the area.

A water basin located between John F. Kennedy School and the Port Chester Housing Authority senior apartment buildings on Drew Street had become overgrown, he explained, meaning it was unable to collect much rainwater. Additionally, a storm line, which when functioning should guide the water into drains, had been blocked off by foliage.

    The $165,000 drainage system installed between John F. Kennedy Elementary School and the senior housing building on Drew Street. Completed on July 29, the system is expected to reduce flooding on Olivia Street.
 Courtesy of the Village of Port Chester 
 
 

“Instead of the basin collecting water and it gradually being directed into the stormwater system, it was all moving down the hill at once,” Rabin said during a phone call on Tuesday, July 30. “So, our engineers inspected the site and came up with a solution.”

The catch basin at the top of the hill was expanded into three basins, each equipped with drains that connect directly into the stormwater system. They are surrounded by rocks to prevent plant overgrowth that would block the flow of water.

Each new pipe has been oversized, Rabin said. Where possible, his team has been installing 48-inch pipes to allow as much water flow as possible.

Construction was estimated to take several weeks—a Facebook post notified residents to expect workers in the area from July 16 to Aug. 30. However, the Village completed it in just 12 days.

Rabin expressed pride in how quickly the work was done and said it reflected how seriously the Village administration is taking the issue.

“Ida really enlightened me about the importance of stormwater systems,” the Village manager said. “In the last two years, stormwater and other capital endeavors have been a large focus of mine.”

Several waterways have been improved in the time since the 2021 storm. The underground Bulkley Drain has been dredged and improved, a collapsed section of the drain under 211 Irving St. was repaired and reinforced and the pipes under Leicester Street were replaced in 2023.

Work has continued into this year, and Rabin said residents can expect to see work crews throughout Port Chester this summer. “Right now, we’ve got several infrastructure projects going on,” he said. “And people have been noticing.”

With the improvements on Olivia Street completed, crews are moving to work on Hawley Avenue, Putnam Avenue and Haines Boulevard to improve water mains on each street.

According to Rabin, more projects are in the works to improve water mains.

“We’re looking at West Glen, Glen and Abendroth,” he said. “Our prerogative is to be proactive. We don’t want people to have to worry about flooding in places like Olivia Street, where it’s not supposed to.”

What’s the cause?

Though several residents believe the new gym at John F. Kennedy Elementary School is contributing to flooding on Olivia Street, Rabin is skeptical of the theory.

“Schools have to get a lot done and approved by the state when they build something,” he said. “I can’t comment on what studies they did, because it was started before my time here, but they most likely included all the drainage they needed to.”

He cited two other factors as likely contributors: An increased amount of rain in recent years and unauthorized paving of lawns.

Rabin said that while Port Chester has areas near bodies of water, neighborhoods outside of that classification have been experiencing flooding.

“We’re just getting more rain,” he said. “And it’s creating issues in areas that aren’t even near water.”

The village manager believes harsher weather alone might not be as severe of an issue if the precipitation could be absorbed into natural ground or directed into the stormwater system.

But some property owners have exacerbated the issue.

“Whenever the Village does any work, we take into account what drainage should look like,” Rabin said. “But there are people here who have illegally paved over their yards for parking. And they probably didn’t think about how it could impact everyone else.”

According to Rabin, no more than 70% of a residential green space can be covered by an impervious material like asphalt. Should a property owner exceed that, they would need to include a drain or path to the stormwater system.

“Code enforcement has already cited several homeowners for it, but you can see it if you drive around places like Highland, Seymour or Leonard,” he said. “Even if you just look on Google Maps, you’ll plainly see backyards have been paved.”

But staffing issues have made it difficult for the Village to crack down on those cases.

“We only have a handful of code enforcement officers,” he said. “Having a small team watching over 30,000 people means we can’t always do what we want to. So, I want residents to know if they see their neighbors paving their lawn: report it. They might be doing it without authorization.”

Though the increased rainfall and illegal paving have created flooding zones, Rabin believes projects like the flood mitigation at Olivia Street and those that will follow will ensure Port Chester is prepared for heavy rains.

“I’m very thankful that there’s a Board of Trustees that understands how important this is,” he said. “And together, we’re revitalizing this Village one pipe at a time.”


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