Pump it

Relief might be in sight for residents along Farm Road who have long complained about flooding problems in their yards.
The town’s engineering firm is in the early stages of developing plans for a new pumping station nearby that should alleviate flooding concerns. In addition, the developer of several new homes along Paterson Plank Road will install a water retention system that should also help alleviate the problem.
The specific design of the pump station has not been completed, but engineers from the PMK Group have begun to map flooding mitigation options for the area. Currently there’s a two-pronged solution under consideration to deal with the two main sources of flooding on Farm Road.
One of the main sources of flooding stems from the Riverview Garden Apartments on Riverview Court.
According to Secaucus Town Administrator David Drumeler, some underground pipes that were installed in the 1970s at the apartment complex were not done properly, and flooding from Riverview is the primary cause of water damage to backyards on Farm Road.
To address flooding from Riverview, the town plans to build an above ground pumping station similar to the one on Golden Avenue.
Engineers at PMK declined to provide additional information regarding plans for the Farm Road pumping station, including where it might be built.

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“FEMA grants are not as easy to get as you might think.” – Michael Gonnelli
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“Before we realized what the scope of the problem was, we were just going to build a small pump station,” Drumeler said. “We’ve since realized that we’re going to need a much larger pump than we were originally expecting.”
A bigger pump also means a bigger price tag: According to Drumeler the anticipated cost of the project has jumped from tens of thousands of dollars to about $750,000.
Money is now the biggest obstacle to getting the pump station built, though Drumeler is hopeful.
“We’re pretty optimistic that most of this money will come from FEMA [the Federal Emergency Management Agency]. There are quite a few FEMA grants out there,” he said. “So, I’m trying to see what might be available. Right now, that’s my main focus.”
But not everyone shares his optimism.
Michael Gonnelli, who sits on the Town Council’s Flood Subcommittee, said last week, “FEMA grants are not as easy to get as you might think. I’ve worked on FEMA grants. They’re really competitive and they take an extremely long time to get.”
The Flood Subcommittee, which also included former Mayor Dennis Elwell before his resignation in July, has met only sporadically since 2007. Gonnelli, who said plans for the pumping station have not been shared with the council, has often complained that the lack of Flood Committee meetings has stalled mitigation work throughout the town.

Pipes underground

Current plans to deal with flooding at the new Paterson Plank Road housing development site will be similar to the system that’s in place at the Secaucus Recreation Center on Koelle Blvd. There, the town has a system of underground pipes that essentially collect and hold flood water until it can be safely discharged without creating problems. These water retention pipes will be installed beneath a planned parking lot at the development and will be paid for by the developer.
This underground water retention system will help, but won’t address the primary source of area flooding.
“Originally, that’s where the town thought a lot of the flooding was coming from,” said Drumeler last week. “But as it turned out, most of the flooding was coming from the Riverview Garden Apartments.”
E-mail E. Assata Wright at awright@hudsonreporter.com.