The Department of Natural Resources recently awarded Sussex with a $300,000 grant to be spent on various storm water projects, one of which is rerouting Spring Creek, an ongoing problem in Sussex. 

The creek flows south through a 470-foot-long pipe beneath M&M Restaurant's parking lot, emptying on the south end of Main Street. The cost of repairing the pipe was previously estimated between $154,000 - $241,000 in July, and that's without the cost of road construction.

Village Administrator Jeremy Smith said the DNR grant is a matching fund, meaning taxpayers will be contributing to construction costs, but the project is something that, by law, needs to be done.

"In the 1950s, Spring Creek was put into a pipe privately," Smith said. "Times were different bank then. But now that pipe is failing, and the DNR says it needs to be opened back up and rerouted. We don't have the exact route selected at this point, but it will be a part of the Main Street project."

"In the 1950s, Spring Creek was put into a pipe privately. Times were different bank then."

The reconstruction and redesign of Main Street is slated to begin in 2015, and if the creek was rerouted then, Sussex could piggyback on costs already associated with tearing up that portion of the road. 

Village officials are currently juggling two ideas for rerouting the creek which would affect either NAPA Auto Parts or M&M Restaurant, according to the Sussex Sun. However, Village Trustee Jason Wegner told village administrators in July that he doesn't like the plan to run the creek behind NAPA Auto Parts because it doesn't address flooding issues. 

“It just seems that there’s going to be an unnatural turn in the (creek),” he said. “I’m afraid that if we put a sharp turn in the (creek), we’re going to end up with the same situation as before where we end up with potential flooding issues.”

Smith said village officials won't have to begin thinking about specifics for the plan for a couple years yet.