Federal money to pay for projects to reduce Bensenville flooding
More than $4 million in federal disaster recovery money is expected to be spent next year on two projects designed to reduce flooding in and around Bensenville.
DuPage County's stormwater management committee on Tuesday signed off on an intergovernmental agreement with the village that would allow for a planned expansion of a reservoir at Bensenville's Redmond Park.
If the county board approves the deal, DuPage would oversee the roughly $2.75 million project to add 7.49 million gallons of floodwater storage capacity to the reservoir, which is east of York Road and south of Jefferson Street.
Meanwhile, the village is planning to use another $1.6 million in federal money to construct a bypass storm sewer to the reservoir, which will improve the flow of water in that area.
Combined, the reservoir expansion and the storm sewer project will reduce the possibility of localized flooding, officials said.
DuPage officials said the plan is to start the reservoir expansion next summer and complete it within a year. They said the sewer project is scheduled around the same time.
Both projects are possible because of federal grant money DuPage received after storms in April 2013 caused major flooding throughout the county.
DuPage - which had thousands of properties suffer flood damage in 2013 - has received roughly $31.5 million from the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development to pay for flood-prevention projects and buy homes that chronically flood.
DuPage initially received $7 million from HUD's Community Development Block Grant program. Roughly $3 million of that was set aside for a project to reduce the threat of flooding near Armstrong Park in Carol Stream.
The county got an additional $18.9 million in disaster relief funds in 2014 and another $5.6 million a year later.
"HUD gave us the money because we had shovel-ready projects," said Jim Zay, chairman of the county's stormwater management committee. "We also work well with our communities. They had projects, and we were able combine them to save money."