Forest Lawn Storm Water Park to alleviate flooding in Boardman Township

For years, flooding in Boardman Township has been wreaking havoc on homes and businesses. It's a recurring issue with seemingly no end, until today.
The creation of the Forest Lawn Storm Water Park will help alleviate the issue - possibly for good.
"We are going to be trying to eliminate that flooding that gets into the streets and into the sanitary system in this area that's caused a lot of problems for folks in the Erskine, Meadowbrook area for years," said Boardman Township Administrator Jason Loree.
The location of the park is the former Market Street Elementary School, which is being torn down starting Wednesday.
The plan is to create natural habitat areas including meadows, pollinator fields and a reforestation of the overall site. After a pipe is "daylighted" and partly pulled out of the ground, storm water will start to accumulate on site, instead of on the streets and inside of homes.
"What we're trying to do is alleviate pressure on the entire system which will have a net impact on the overall waterflow for Cranberry Run," Loree said.
Roughly 1000-1500 homes will feel the impact. Loree tells 21 News, they're just getting started.
"There's multiple projects that we're going to be doing and continue to be doing to help with the flooding," Loree said.
The project will take weeks to months to complete, but officials say it's expected to wrap up sometime this year.
"In the fall we'll be looking hopefully, to bid out for the actual construction and installation of the storm water park," said Loree.
The park will have plenty of features once it's complete including a pavilion where Boardman students can learn all about water infiltration.
"I know the middle school helped a lot with designing the areas here," said Boardman 11th grader Mackenzie Kelos. " We're gonna help a lot with a lot of the information and us high schoolers are going to come here and we are going to educate some of the middle schoolers," she said.
"I'm really excited to be able to have a more hands on approach to this education field that's so important," said Boardman 11th grader Finn Machuga.
The project stems from a collaboration between the Boardman Local School District, Boardman Township and ABC Water and Storm Water Utility District and will cost $3.6 million.