Chapel Hill Mayor Pam Hemminger joked that the ceremony held Thursday for the town’s Booker Creek Storage Basin project was a little different than normal.

“It was my first ever virtual groundbreaking,” she said to 97.9 The Hill’s Aaron Keck. “They delivered a trowel to my front door [for it.]”

But as Hemminger said the space itself will be a little different than normal town green spaces as well. Instead of its main purpose being a space for residents to visit, it instead addresses a major need of the area surrounding Booker Creek.

“It will severely reduce flooding,” she said, “and that’s what we’ve been aiming for. It’s been a high priority of the council to work on the flooding issues we have in the community. It’s our first big one and we’re very excited it’s continuing to get underway.”

Booker Creek’s proximity to the Eastgate Crossing shopping center has caused major flooding issues in the past, with the entire parking lot being underwater. The goal of this project is to improve stormwater retention around the creek, which means crews will expand the amount of water the area can hold if the creek floods.

An overhead view of the design plan for the Booker Creek Storage Basin. (Design via the Town of Chapel Hill.)

Hemminger said the town chose to go with a design that creates additional uses for the basin. She said it might not be long before others will want one in their own neighborhood thanks to features that will make it comparable to other Chapel Hill green spaces.

“If the engineers had gotten together, it would be just a big concrete bowl,” said Hemminger. “But this is going to be effective, efficient and part of a park system. We’re going to have art, we’re going to have a viewing station, a greenway path, it will be lit. People will be able to move between the Blue Hill District [and Eastgate Crossing] through this park.”

In addition to expanding its volume, the town plans to add native wetland plants to the basin. Hemminger said while doing both of these will damage the vegetation currently where the basin will be, the long-term plan will establish better-equipped plant species than before.

“There will be construction and some trees will have to be taken down now,” said Hemminger. “But we’re going to be replanting those kinds of plants that actually thrive well in a storage basin.”

A recording of the virtual groundbreaking will air on the town’s Facebook page and YouTube account on Friday at 10 a.m. More information about the Booker Creek Storage Basin project can be found on the Town of Chapel Hill’s website.

Photo via the Town of Chapel Hill.

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