Berwyn Stormwater

A Stormwater Management Plan for Berwyn

UPDATE: The Stormwater Management Plan was adopted by the City of Berwyn and is now available for download!

The City of Berwyn is committed to enhancing its stormwater management program to reduce flooding, improve local water quality, and generate multiple benefits for the community. The City recently revised its zoning ordinance to include landscape standards to manage stormwater through green infrastructure practices that reduce runoff, associated pollutants, and urban flooding. Since 2012, the City has increased the capacity of its combined sewer system through underground detention and permeable pavement installations in private developments. Currently, the City is developing plans to integrate similar practices into a streetscape project for the Depot District and ten alley reconstruction projects throughout the City.

With help from CMAP's Local Technical Assistance (LTA) program, the City of Berwyn and CMAP are collaborating to create a stormwater management plan for the community that will identify citywide and local opportunities to reduce the impacts of urban flooding and improve water quality. The final plan will include recommendations and concepts with a focus on green infrastructure solutions and highlight areas requiring further engineering study. The concepts developed for key locations will illustrate green infrastructure practices, quantify their benefits, and provide concept-level cost estimates for the City to use to seek funding for implementation.

The planning process will include three phases. The first phase will involve a thorough stormwater analysis of the existing conditions within the community using information gathered from the steering committee, interviews with key stakeholders, review of previous studies, and analysis of data. The second phase will focus on developing a range of stormwater management opportunities and identify priority areas of the community for concept development based on findings from the phase one analysis and public engagement. The final phase will combine efforts from previous phases to create the stormwater management plan.

Public Engagement

The planning process will entail stakeholder input to ensure that the plan is driven by the needs and vision of the community. The project steering committee, which consists of a broad group of stakeholders, will provide feedback throughout the planning process. There will also be opportunities for residents, business owners, and other members of the community to provide input on several occasions through workshops and other events.

Past Activities

Public Hearing (June 26, 2018)
A public hearing for the draft Stormwater Management Plan was held on June 26, 2018 at 6:30 p.m., at Berwyn City Hall.

Public Open House (February 7, 2018)
A public open house for the Stormwater Management Plan was held on February 7, 2018, from 4:00 to 7:00 p.m., at the Berwyn Public Library. The open house provided attendees with an overview of the project and featured three stations focused on where flooding occurs and how it affects residents, improvements that residents can make at home, and opportunities to improve stormwater management in streets, parks, schoolyards, and other public spaces. The City and the Metropolitan Water Reclamation District (MWRD) also attended to provide information on their respective programs.