EMMIE BOESE
Hutch Post
HUTCHINSON, Kan. — The City of Hutchinson Public Works Department has plans to build a new stormwater detention basin south of 23rd Ave and west of Severance Street.
"In 2017 the City of Hutchinson had an engineering company review our stormwater master plan. A big plan that looks at how we manage stormwater flows across the entire city and through the process of reviewing that, we developed a number of projects that we thought we could build that would help reduce flooding in areas of the city and this is one of those," Project Manager for the City of Hutchinson Public Works Department Evan Patterson said.
According to the city, the intention behind the new stormwater detention basin is to divert stormwater from the Eastside Channel as it flows down Severance Street between 30th Ave and 23rd Ave and then slowly reintroduce it back into the Eastside Channel between 23rd Ave and 17th Ave.
"Particularly during storm events, we categorize them as two year storms, 10 year storms and 100 year storms so two and ten year storms will be helped out a lot by this," Patterson said. "Larger storms it's tricky because there is a lot of water but we really hope to see a lot less flooding in those adjacent neighborhoods."
Patterson said the problem with the location of the new basin is that it will displace a couple of practice baseball fields.
"So we've been considering how to provide some amenities in that area that would give other uses to the space," Patterson said.
Amenities being considered are an identified trail on the perimeter of the space, terraced seating and bench seating.
Patterson said the land that the basin in located on is Kansas State Fair land. The agreement the city made with the fair is that the basin will be completed by March of 2026.
JEO Consulting Group is the design team who is in charge of the engineering aspect of the project.
"They are supposed to finish that engineering by the end of the year and then we'll take all of those designs and specifications and send them out to contractors to evaluate," Patterson said. "They'll come back to us with bids. We'll pick a contractor so maybe March or April of next year is when construction will actually start."
The project will include some potential street closures on 23rd Ave and southbound on Severance. The project will also involve the relocation of Hutchinson Community College track and field facilities in the area. The facilities will most likely be moved sooner rather than later because HCC is hosting the national track and field championships in May of 2025.
"We need to get this stuff moved over here so they can practice next spring, so we may handle this separately sometime this fall," Patterson said.
As of now, the total project cost is estimated at $4 million.
For more information about the project, contact Patterson at [email protected] or Chris Shultz with JEO Consulting Group at [email protected].