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BRONXVILLE, N.Y. Bronxville was not named in Thursday's announcement that County Executive Rob Astorino has designated $9 million for seven capital projects to address chronic flooding along the Bronx River. Village Administrator Harry Porr, however, said there are other plans underway for the village.
"We were not overlooked," Porr said. "We put in applications to state and federal agencies and it looks like federal agencies are ready to fund our project."
Porr said that it looks like $6 million will be allocated to deal with flooding in the village, with 75 percent coming from federal funds and a local funding of 50/50 from the state and the village.
Porr said the village applied for flood grants in 2007-08, but were turned down.
"The county could not tie our grant application into a county asset, so we were turned down," Porr said.
The Bronxville School was flooded with up to four feet of water during Tropical Storm Irene. The gym was unable to be used for months, the kindergarten classes were delayed by two weeks and school started a day late. The water also backed up covering the street and the football field.
This was the second time the school experienced significant damage in the last four years. The first floor of the school also had damage caused by a 2007 Nor'easter. After that storm, a special valve was placed in the flood prone area to allow the floodwaters to drain into the Bronx River. But the valve closes when the river overflows.
Porr did not release many details on the coming flooding remediation project, but promised more information would be forthcoming.
"It's going to be a good thing," Porr said.
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