Exciting news! Construction for the Grandview Stormwater Management Project is slated to get underway later this summer! This project will transform a vacant parcel of land on Mapleview Avenue in Lakewood into a series of engineered wetland complexes and swales (vegetated ditches) with the main goals of improving water quality in Chautauqua Lake and reducing downstream flooding problems in the Village of Lakewood along Fairmount Avenue near the Save-A-Lot Plaza (as seen in the photo above) with approximately 100,000 cubic feet of stormwater storage. The project will also create new wetland and wildlife habitat and a nature park for Village of Lakewood residents to enjoy.
Our Special Projects Coordinator, John Jablonski III, developed the concept for this stormwater capture/pollution control project back in 2019 when he was our executive director. Taylor West – who is currently the project manager for the Chautauqua Lake and Watershed Management Alliance (CLWMA) – was working for us at the time and also helped with the plan’s development. With grant funding from the CLWMA, we then hired Andy Johnson of EcoStrategies to complete preliminary engineering drawings for this constructed wetland complex.
We are thankful to the Village of Lakewood, Town of Busti and CLWMA for their roles in bringing this project to fruition, including substantial grants writing, real estate transfer work, and project management. Thanks, too, go out to Ron Davidson for his role in making the land available for this project!
Our staff and partners will continue to: 1) identify and engage owners of other lake area subdivisions and developments where stormwater capture retrofit projects like this might be implemented to capture stormwater and nutrients fueling excessive algae and aquatic plant growth in our lakes, 2) work to get effective non-structural and structural stormwater treatment infrastructure built into new residential and commercial developments as part of the site plan and subdivision approval processes, and 3) work with homeowners and businesses to retrofit lawns and grounds with similar bioswales and rain gardens to capture and treat stormwater eroding our streams and degrading our lakes.
If you’d like to explore working with us to retrofit your yard, business property or neighborhood to reduce pollution harming our lakes, reach out to us at info@chautauquawatershed.org!