Mayor Domenic J. Sarno is pleased to announce that the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) has awarded the City of Springfield a $550,000 grant to repair the culvert at South Branch Parkway. The grant is part of FEMA’s Pre-Disaster Mitigation (PDM) Grant Program, which is intended to assist states and local communities in their efforts to implement a sustainable pre-disaster initiative and lessen the impact of potential future disasters. The funding will support the City of Springfield’s large-scale pre-disaster plan.
The City submitted the application back in January 2019 to seek grant funds to repair a 22’ deep storm manhole and outlet pipe to Watershops Pond at the intersection of South Branch Parkway and Briarwood Ave. The drainage area for this system is primarily where the 2011 EF-3 tornado impacted, which resulted in significant amount of storm runoff due to damage to the areas tree canopy. This increase storm flow has overwhelmed the drainage system causing the structure failure.
The grant will allow the City of completely replace the storm manhole and outlet piping to the proper size required by the increased stormflows. In addition, it will also allow the roadway to remain in stable condition.
Mayor Sarno stated, “I want to thank our dedicated City team, especially CAFO TJ Plante, DPW Director Chris Cignoli and Grants Director Melanie Acobe, for their continued efforts working with MEMA to apply for and secure this much needed and vital funding. Our City team has become experts in responding to natural and manmade disasters. My administration will continue to go after any and all state and federal resources available that will benefit our City, residents and business community.”
“MEMA looks forward to working closely with the City of Springfield as they complete this important resiliency project to reduce the impacts of future disasters,” said Massachusetts Emergency Management Agency (MEMA) Director Samantha Phillips. “Mitigation projects like these are a critical part of emergency management that reduce, minimize, or eliminate potential damages to property and infrastructure from natural hazard events.”
DPW Director Chris Cignoli added, “I am very thankful to the MEMA staff for their assistance in securing this funding on this major storm system replacement. The increase in storm flow in this area of the City following the 2011 tornado has stressed the system to a point where improvements were required to ensure that a second disaster did not occur. Working with our dedicated City team we will begin the design phase of this project with construction estimated to begin in the summer of 2021.”
The total project cost is $832,500. The FEMA grant, which will be awarded to the City through MEMA, will cover $550,000. The City of Springfield will be responsible for the remaining $282,500.