EMERSON—The borough attorney said he would look into a resident’s allegations that two recent flooding events at his Palisade Avenue business were possibly related to a lack of stormwater management at the Emerson Station mixed-use development rising downtown.
Borough Attorney John McCann told Pascack Press that he hoped to have answers by the next council meeting, Tuesday, Oct. 3 at 7:30 p.m.
At the Sept. 19 council meeting, resident Daniel O’Brien said he sent pictures and videos to council showing recent flood damage to his business at 17 A, B and C Palisade Avenue, which he alleged had come from development at Block 419, Emerson Station.
O’Brien is owner and president of Academy Electrical Contractors Inc. and Electrical Power Systems Inc. on Palisade Avenue.
He raised concern over stormwater detention or control measures, such as hay bales or sediment control fences. He held up site plans on the 3.34-acre Emerson Station development and alleged there’s “no stormwater retaining system installed on that property.”
He said this was the second time that his tool room and bathroom flooded. He said this did not happen in 12 years in business, until the Block 419 development was built.
McCann told Pascack Press Sept. 26 that he needed to research the development’s approved preliminary and final site plan, stormwater management plan, and developer’s agreement, to make sure all required regulations were being followed.
McCann said he would review whether the required parties, likely including the borough engineer, county engineer and applicant engineer, had signed off on the stormwater management plan, and that it was being followed properly.
“If there’s anything the town can do to stop it [flooding] and prevent it from happening, we will certainly do it,” McCann told us.
He said no runoff or flooding connection to Block 419 had been proven and that if all related development and stormwater plans are being followed, the matter may become a civil matter between the two parties.
Other local flooding
Following flooding caused by an intense early September rain storm, local officials are seeking ways to address and reduce stormwater and flooding impacts.
Officials here were told by the borough’s engineering consultant Sept. 19 that an analysis of the local stormwater infrastructure could take more than a year and and estimated $225,000 to help officials get a better handle on possible ways to reduce local flooding following storms.
The council discussion on flooding followed an intense Sept. 8 rain storm that pounded the borough with 4 to 4.5 inches of rain, according to local storm watchers, said consulting engineer David Atkinson, of Neglia Engineering.
He said a rain gauge in nearby Haworth had recorded about 3 inches of rain.
No decisions were made by council on what actions to take, and Mayor Danielle DiPaola, who asked the engineer to come back with a more detailed proposal to be conducted in phases, along with specific costs for each phase.
Officials had asked the borough engineer to discuss how long it would take to map the storm drainage system and to analyze the data and recommend what could be done to help reduce flooding events.
Atkinson said during the Sept. 8 storm, which also featured hail in the Pascack Valley, during a 20-minute period approximately 1.7 inches of rain fell in 20 minutes.
“That’s a significant amount of water in such a short time period that really the borough’s infrastructure just can’t handle that,” Atkinson said.
He said most local stormwater systems can handle “25-year storms”— severe storms generally occurring once every 25 years — but that recent storms have often exceeded what most drainage systems were sized to handle.
He estimated that it could cost up to $2.5 million to upgrade the stormwater system in one specific flooding trouble spot near Vivian Avenue and Dorchester Road. Atkinson said that an expenditure to upgrade that system’s stormwater capacity would help there but not any other area or flood situation in town.
“Everybody [in the Pascack Valley] is up against the same issue, funds are limited and costs are extremely expensive to do,” said Atkinson. He said the borough could spend “millions and millions of dollars” to upgrade stormwater systems and still see flooding.
Officials pointed out several other areas with repeat flooding concerns, and ongoing local and county efforts to address them.
DiPaola wondered whether dredging streams would help the flooding problems throughout town.
Atkinson said that removing sediment from stream beds would help, but “unfortunately it is never going to solve all of them.”
He said while 1 inch of rain may not cause flooding if sediment shoals are removed, more rain or intense rain may still lead to flooding.