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Rochester Heights Creek Project

The Rochester Heights Creek Project is an effort to address neighborhood flooding and stormwater concerns that surround the creek by identifying and implementing actions that reduce the amount of water entering the creek.

Rochester Heights Creek

The creek flows north from Biltmore Hills Park to Walnut Creek through both private and public property. It suffers from erosion and sedimentation, and increased flows from stormwater.

History

Catastrophic and nuisance flooding have been experienced by residents since Hurricane Fran in 1996. More recently, results of a flooding and stormwater study conducted in Rochester Heights and Biltmore Hills in 2016, and subsequent conversations with residents, revealed that the properties along lower Rochester Heights Creek are still at risk for flooding. 

Project Goals

  1. Rochester Heights Creek is a stable stream with less erosion and reduced flows
  2. Reduced impacts that common rain storms have on neighbors living along Rochester Heights Creek
  3. Rochester Heights Creek neighbors are engaged in events, projects, planning and notices related to Rochester Heights Creek and the Walnut Creek Watershed

Why This Project is Important

It will take a lot of focused efforts across the entire Walnut Creek Watershed to resolve the flooding and stormwater issues in this area. This project is one of those efforts. 

Project Activities

  • We are working with various partners to identify potential large-scale projects further upstream that will restore the stream and reduce the amount of water that flows into the creek
  • We surveyed residents along the creek to learn how they are impacted by flooding and assess interest in doing backyard projects.
  • We are developing a plan to that will be used to identify stream improvement projects
  • Seeking funding to implement projects

News and Events

City of Raleigh Stormwater, Kris Bass Engineering, NC State College of Natural Resources, and WRRI were awarded a grant from the EPA 319 to install a series of stormwater control structures. The project began early 2021 with construction anticipated to start in Fall 2023.

More about Biltmore Hills Park Project

Project Partners

Contact Information