Elmhurst Targets Flooding In Local Neighborhood

HINSDALE, IL – Elmhurst is poised to start a flood control project at Jackson Elementary School, which is in the southwest part of town.

On Monday, a City Council committee plans to review nine bids, ranging from $384,000 to $697,000, to build a detention pond in the field north of Jackson.

The lowest bidder is Batavia-based Earthwerks.

The city plans for the new pond to be connected by pipe to a larger existing pond. The new pond will only fill up during larger storms, the city said in a memo Thursday.

The city said the project would reduce the 100-year flooding depth by a half foot. It also would remove nine more homes from the 100-year flooding area, according to the memo.

The pond will be the 14th stormwater project in Elmhurst since 2015, reducing or eliminating overland flooding for 475 homes, the city said.

The total additional water storage is the equivalent of 65 Olympic-sized pools.

The Jackson project also includes $115,000 for parking lot improvements, which is required under the city's agreement with Elmhurst School District 205.

The city and the district struck the agreement in late 2019. It also included an underground water detention basin under a field at York High School. That project finished last fall.

The two entities suffered a rocky relationship in 2019 as they negotiated over the city's need for stormwater solutions. A recording of a closed school board meeting indicated the tension in the relationship.

This year, though, the relationship appears to have improved a lot.