Dingens Street Drainage Project to Bring Flooding Relief

July 23, 2009

Cheektowaga Supervisor Mary Holtz along with County Executive Chris Collins and Erie County Legislator Tim Kennedy are announcing an agreement between Erie County and Cheektowaga that will allow further progress in addressing chronic drainage problems along Dingens Street. 

County Executive Collins and Legislator Kennedy have backed the designation of $300,000 in the County’s capital improvement budget to assist the Town in moving forward with the Dingens Street Storm Sewer Trunkline Extension and the Phase 2 Drainage Improvements Project.  These projects will provide relief to an area of Cheektowaga with relatively dense residential development.  The existing drainage systems are generally inadequate, and rainfalls of moderate intensity tend to create local surface flooding.

Supervisor Holtz said, “This is an important and much needed project to provide relief to an area that has suffered from chronic flooding problems.  The cost is great and we very much appreciate the efforts of County Executive Collins and Legislator Tim Kennedy to provide this funding.”

County Executive Chris Collins said, “I’m happy Erie County is able to partner with the Town of Cheektowaga to help the residents in this area with flooding concerns.  I’d like to thank Cheektowaga Supervisor Mary Holtz and Legislator Tim Kennedy for their hard work on this project.”

"The commitment on seeing this project come to fruition is a perfect example of an inter-municipal agreement forged between Erie County and the Town of Cheektowaga with the best interests of the taxpayers in mind," Stated Erie County Legislator Tim Kennedy, who worked intimately with County Executive Collins, Supervisor Holtz and others to make this project a reality. "We will continue to work together on this and other important projects to ensure long standing problems, such as the flooding in the Dingens and William Street neighborhoods, are resolved," he continued.

In 1998, the Town of Cheektowaga invested $600,000 to begin taking steps to alleviate flooding in the Dingens Street area.   At the time, the New York State Department of Transportation had announced plans to reconstruct Harlem Road between William and Clinton.  The Town ordered a study to see if the Harlem Road right-of-way beneath the Thruway could be used as a storm drainage outlet.  A favorable evaluation led to the installation of a 60-inch storm sewer as part of the State DOT’s Harlem Road reconstruction project.  The installation of this storm water drainage outlet allowed the Town to establish a long-range storm drainage capital improvement plan.  The plan benefits an area north of Dingens Street, west of Harlem Road including, but not limited to, Medina Street, Alaska Street, Colby Street, Hedley Street, Glidden Street, Parker Avenue and Hurd Street.

This past spring the Town invested another $600,000 to extend the 60-inch trunk line behind Dingens Street Park to further advance the project.  The projected budget to complete the extension of the trunk line on Dingens, from Medina Street to Shanley Street is an additional $1millon which the Town will finance over a twenty year period through the sale of municipal bonds.