Two businessmen in Downingtown, Pa., gave 100,000 toward construction of the Alcoa basin, a major storm water management project that aims to control flooding in the borough.
The businessmen, Eli Kahn and Jack Loew, are partners in a real estate company that owns the Downingtown Tech Center, in addition to other properties in the area. The two made the presentation at a recent borough council meeting.
Kahn told The Daily Local News that he hopes the contribution will help with the flooding problems in the area.
County Commissioner Patrick O'Donnell announced that the agreement with Alcoa to purchase the land for the basin was final and the closing could be as early as next week.
Loew informed The Daily Local News that the contribution was an effort to follow up on a promise he made a year ago to help with the project.
Downingtown is purchasing a six-acre tract for $500,000 from Alcoa Downingtown Flexible Packaging Plant to build a storm water detention basin. The basin will hold water that currently contributes to flooding on the local streets.
The basin has been in development since the Army Corps of Engineers made the suggestion in a 2003 study.
The basin will be 13 feet deep and will occupy five acres on the site. It will have an inflow and outflow and can hold as much water as would be generated by a 100-year storm, then release it at a rate lower than a two-year storm event. The water released from the basin will flow to the Downingtown Tech Center basin.
The area also has another project in development that will reduce storm water that is making its way into the Downingtown Tech Center basin and ultimately into Little Parke Run.
The borough, in collaboration with East Caln, is planning a project that will cost $30,000 to fix some of the other storm water problems in the area. The two municipalities plan to share costs.
Source: The Daily Local News
