By Carol P. Bartold     

Jun. 3, 2015:  Village administrator Jim Palmer reported that no timetable has been established for work to begin on the $6.9 million Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) Midland Valley Drainage Project. 

Construction on the flood mitigation project, a joint endeavor of the Bronxville Free Union School District and the Village of Bronxville, was originally planned to begin in October of 2014 but has experienced several delays.

Per Palmer, four bids received for the contract, and opened at village hall on May 15, came in much higher than expected:

   •  ELQ Industries, Inc. for $12,397,853
   •  Northbrook Contracting Corporation for $12,298,000
   •  Sentrale Construction Corporation for $10,308,105
   •  Montisano Bros., Inc. for $9,754,305 

The village consultant will review the bids to determine if the bidders interpreted the scope of the work correctly. FEMA will also review the bids and provide guidance on the next steps to be taken. 

Palmer stated that because of the historical significance of the area, FEMA required archeological phase I (above ground) and phase II (excavation) assessments. "Nothing was discovered," he said, "but it certainly added to the delay." He stated that the village will obtain an extension of the project's original September 19, 2015, completion date. 

The project will consist of a stormwater storage system, a network of hydraulically controlled pipes installed under Hayes Field at The Bronxville School. A pump station adjacent to the field will work in concert with the storage system to control the rate of stormwater discharge into two force main pipes that will carry runoff toward the Bronx River. 

The force main pipes will extend from the pumping station underneath the school's present auxiliary parking lot and cross beneath Midland Avenue to the Bronxville Public Library property. Pipes will continue under a portion of the library's lawn, cross Pondfield Road, and extend under a portion of the village hall lawn. 

The pipes will then follow Palumbo Place to a drainage channel leading to Laurel Brook, which drains into the Bronx River.

Pictured at top:  Bronx River, near where Laurel Brook flows into it (photo by A. Warner).

Pictured in the text: System layout plan (in two parts) showing the placement of pipes from the pumping station underneath the school's auxiliary parking lot and continuing under Midland Avenue, the library, Pondfield Road, village hall, and Palumbo Place (plans courtesy Paul J. Pelusio, principal, J. Robert Folchetti & Associates, and James Palmer, village administrator, Village of Bronxville).