Officials Work to Curb Flooding

Borough officials are working to ensure New Milford residents won't continue to suffer from floods after every major storm, Mayor Ann Subrizi said at the mayor and council meeting Monday night.

After a delayed start due to an extended closed session, Subrizi assured the public that she and the council are pursuing three simultaneous projects:

• Lowering the water level in the reservoirs prior to a storm
• Dredging the Hackensack River 
• Raising the PSE&G substation

In order to effect these changes, Subrizi said she is seeking assistance from all levels of government, including Congressman Scott Garrett's office, in getting the Army Corps of Engineers to dredge the Hackensack River, which she claims would help displace water faster and ease the strain of overflow.

"I don't accept the fact that the Army Corps of Engineers won't come here," Subrizi said. "I intend to find someone who will allow us to dredge the Hackensack River." 

"I intend to pursue this vigorously in order to get flood relief in this town," she continued. 

Subrizi also reported that, along with other mayors, she attended a meeting earlier in the day that included the President of PSE&G, Ralph LaRossa; President of the Board of Public Utilities, Lee Solomon; Cindy Randazzo, the Department of Environmental Protection Office of Local Government Assistance; and Jim Glozzy, General Manager of United Water. The mayor said she will continue to press them on who can authorize lowering the reservoir level in advance of a rain event in order to reduce flooding along the Hackensack River.

During her council report, Councilwoman Randi Duffie said that she had contacted the DEP on October 10th in response to United Water's insistence that they they cannot lower the levels of the reservoirs because they are bound by permits issued by the agency. 

Duffie was given a copy of a DEP permit issued during the summer of 2011 by the DEP's Water Enforcement unit. She was told that the only requirement within this permit is "minimum passing flow." (A copy of the permit is being sent to the borough engineer for further study.) 

Among the people at the DEP that Duffie spoke to, Water Systems engineer, Steve Roddy, said the focus of the DEP is about providing drinking water and not about flooding; Darin Schaffer in Dam Safety said that the state does not require a certain level in the reservoir be retained.

From these conversations Duffie concluded that the flooding is the problem of the water company and asked that the mayor and council demand United Water have a “sit down” with the governing body and answer how they're going to stop future flooding.

"There's 100 years of data that shows if the water level is lower than the reservoir and we get 8 inches of rain, Columbia and Harvard [streets] do not flood," Duffie said.

During the public comments portion of the meeting the message from the residents was very clear: in order to move forward, there needs to be a plan. 

A number of residents suggested that one part of the plan should include controlling, and limiting, new construction in flood zone areas. Borough Attorney Mark Madaio responded that although the Planning Board doesn't have the ability to stop new construction, they do require DEP permits if the building is in a flood zone. The mayor and council encouraged the public to attend the Planning Board meetings and raise their concerns. (The next Planning Board meeting will be on November 15.)

Other business:

• Hurricane Irene National Emergency Grant: allows the borough to hire people who are unemployed to help the town with its recovery efforts from flooding. Borough will lay out the money and be reimbursed through the grant. 
• Status of the United Water property: The vote was pulled from the Sept. 12 mayor and council agenda due to the aftermath of Hurricane Irene and Tropical Storm Lee, and it has not yet been put back on the agenda again. 
• Status of Elm Street bridge: Duffie reported that every permit has been issued to begin repairs on the bridge except the historic one. 

Representatives from United Water will be at the next mayor and council meeting on Nov. 28.