The Village of Great Neck Board of Trustees unanimously approved a feasibility study aimed at finding solutions to drainage issues that became prominent during Hurricane Ida last year.
H2M Architects in Melville was retained by the village during a Jan. 18 board meeting. The $35,000 study will look at the flooding from the remnants of the hurricane last summer and how it impacted residential roads.
In its initial proposal to the village in November, H2M outlined potential solutions to prevent flooding on Chadwick, Plymouth and Warwick roads that included installing a stormwater pump station, re-routing portions of the drainage system, increasing pipe capacity or incorporating detention storage.
A total of $30,000 covers the drainage study, with the additional $5,000 coming from an optional house elevation feasibility study. According to the proposal, H2M can provide a general assessment of raising various homes and existing utilities that will need to be modified to do so. H2M officials said a brief review showed that the tides from Little Neck Bay would not have any influence on the village’s drainage system and that the study will mainly focus on the discharge of the county culvert under Middle Neck Road.
During a September board meeting, village resident Wendy Teppel spoke on behalf of a group composed of residents residing on Chadwick, Plymouth and Warwick roads to advocate a study of the drainage system.
Teppel, who has served on executive boards at various schools throughout the area, said she has never seen destruction and flooding from a storm like Ida in more than 40 years of living in the village, with roughly two to three feet of water entering her two-story home.
“In all the years I’ve been here, I’ve never experienced anything like this last storm,” Teppel said during the meeting.
While a smattering of areas throughout the peninsula were hit with flooding and damage to homes, those who live on Chadwick, Plymouth and Warwick have been experiencing inefficient drain systems for years, she said. Teppel said the main floor of her home, and others’ homes, was submerged, something that did not even occur during Superstorm Sandy.
Mayor Pedram Bral said the storm was the worst one he witnessed during his time in Great Neck.
H2M said it conducted a study of the village’s drainage system in 2001, but that was focused on the infrastructure which discharges into a ditch between Piccadilly Road and Wooleys Lane, according to the proposal.
The study is anticipated to span five months, with H2M officials tentatively presenting findings to the village sometime in June, with a progress report scheduled for mid-April.
