The goal of the City of New Bern‘s innovative stormwater and wetland improvement project, Duffyfield Community Stormwater Enhancements, is to transform a community liability to a community asset.
The project utilizes city-owned parcels and undevelopable, FEMA buyout repetitive-loss properties to create a community park. The park offers green space. This space will be designed as a resilient wetland system. This wetland system improves water quality by storing and treating small rainfall events. Moreover, it also mitigates localized flooding during medium-sized storm events.
Duffyfield Community Stormwater/Wetland Enhancements will create a 5 acre +/- multifunction urban stormwater treatment facility designed to function as an urban wetland. The project will do this by utilizing blighted land and transforming it into a stormwater retention and treatment network. As a result, the network will improve community health. It will also serve as a passive recreational park and spur investment in a historically underserved community.
WithersRavenel is working on development of the Phase 1 construction plans, which are focused on enlarging the existing storage pond at the downstream end of the park and upgrading pump and outlet control systems that will also serve future phases of park development. We also helped the City secure funding to continue with Phases II and III of the project.