The wheels are turning on a wide ranging improvement project to improve stormwater drainage on Chestnut Street after city commissioners accepted a grant of over $3 million for a project city Environmental Manager Matt Powell said has been a long time coming.

“It’s going to be incredibly complex,” Powell told the Daily News. “We’ve got to look at what’s happening with our growth, what’s happening with the medical facilities that are nearby … there’s a massive undertaking to go along with (this).”

A new lift station will be constructed and a new sewer line installed from East 4th Avenue to the U.S. 31-W Bypass. According to a city memo, the storm sewer system currently in place is operating at one-third of its original design capacity and the pump station on site is faulty.

The improved infrastructure will help mitigate flooding in the area, the memo states. No match is required from the city.

Even though grant funding is secured, Powell said it’s hard to gauge when work will begin. He said the complexity of the project comes from the need to relocate each utility line in the area, since stormwater drainage is located below other lines.

“Pretty much, everyone has to move for us to move,” Powell said. “There’s a reason this project has sat on the shelf for 40 years. It’s complicated.”

He said various storm sewer projects throughout the city are being gathered together which will allow a design firm to complete design and bid packages at the same time.

This process is expected to take around four months, Powell said.

“It will definitely be under construction next year, but to say what month it would be would be a complete guess,” he said.

Riverfront Park also saw renewed focus Tuesday night as commissioners approved a $1.1 million amendment and change order to allow Louisville-based consultant MKSK, Inc. to complete design and construction administration of phases two and three of the park.

Brent Childers, head of Neighborhood and Community Services, told commissioners the change will allow the city to move ahead on the park in a timely fashion.

“Because we have secured additional funding, it’s time to design more phases of the park,” Childers said. “What this will do is finish up phase one, do all of phase two and start phase three.”

Childers said phase one will include increased access to Barren River with a new boat ramp and work along the top of the riverbank.

Phase two will involve an extension of the park over a former landfill area and phase three of the park will be the city’s forthcoming whitewater park.

“These are all complex projects,” Childers told commissioners. “They’re all located in a floodplain, in a floodway and on top of a landfill. There’s a lot of permitting.”

He said in total, the three phases of the project represent around $16 million worth of construction.

Commissioners also approved:

• A grant application totaling $315,838.39 for training, equipment purchases and cancer screenings for the Bowling Green Fire Department;
• The acceptance of a grant totaling $285,298 for the Scottsville Road shared-use path;
• The acceptance of a $225,000 grant for the ongoing Jennings Creek Greenway project.

Tuesday marked the commission’s final meeting of the year. Commissioners will meet next on Jan. 7.