Over a hundred people attended a meeting at the Multi Service Center on Thursday, Sept. 24 to discuss the beginning stages of the $230 million Rebuild by Design project, including Mayor Dawn Zimmer, City Council members, and residents. The plan is designed to avoid the kind of disaster that Superstorm Sandy caused in October 2012 when flooding and power outages were rampant throughout Hoboken.
A year after the storm, which exposed many of the mile square city’s weak spots in regard to flooding, the United States Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) launched the Rebuild by Design competition to spur innovative ways to fend off future storm surges and heavy rainfall.
After gaining the $230 million for the first phase of the “Hudson River Project: Resist, Delay, Store, Discharge,” the meeting was a way for the city, contractor Dewberry whose experts were on hand, and the state Department of Environmental Protection (DEP) to gauge the public’s perception of the project’s scoping portion: the feasibility, design, and environmental analysis of the project as a whole.
Though the $230 million was provided to the state, it is Hoboken’s prize for winning the “Rebuild by Design” competition with the inclusive anti-flooding strategy it developed. The concept also encompasses southern Weehawken, and northeastern Jersey City in the event of a Superstorm Sandy-level storm event.
The NJDEP estimates it will take three and a half years to complete the project which currently proposes barriers that double as parks to block against storm surges and green infrastructure able to store stormwater.
Maps and markers were laid out on tables for the public to circle and point out areas they felt they could provide insight on in regard to flooding.
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First of many
The two-hour conference was the first among many the city will hold to ask for the public’s input.
In addition to general open-houses, future meetings will address any obstacles the contractor discovers throughout the environmental studies necessary for the project. The public will also play a role in deciding on a final plan for the project and project planners will help determine how the current $230 million factors into those plans.
Under federal law, HUD must obligate all of the $230 million to New Jersey by September 2017 with the current date for completion of new infrastructure to prevent flooding in Hoboken set for 2022.
Boards were laid out throughout the center’s open house area – in a room near the main meeting – with graphics breaking down the various environmental-related studies necessary for the project to undergo. Senior planners from the contractor for the impact study, Dewberry Engineers, stood at the boards wearing nametags, ready to answer questions from the public.
These boards, dubbed “stations,” addressed the need to look at various aspects of Hoboken prior to the project’s creation including air quality, possible hazardous waste, historical and archeological resources, land use, and aesthetic resources. Maps and markers were also laid out on tables for the public to circle and point out areas they felt they could provide insight on.
One resident wrote in bright turquoise: “This area at Columbus Park floods after significant rain fall” with arrows pointed to the corner of Clinton and Tenth streets.
The floodgates open…for conversation
About thirty minutes of the meeting were allotted for public questions with Dewberry organizers suggesting comments be written out and submitted.
“It is critical we have [community] input to make sure we develop and address aspects of mobility flooding and future storm surges,” said New Jersey Department of Environmental Protection (NJDEP) Manager of Constituent Services Kerry Kirk Pflugh before the meeting.
For 10-year resident Hany Ahmed, thinking back to the storm meant reminiscing about hundreds of thousands of dollars in property damages and endless bouts over how much flood insurance coverage he was entitled to.
“I’m interested in the administration handling the project and who will oversee funds,” said Ahmed at the end of the meeting. “My concern is also what we are doing to cooperate with the neighboring towns. We can’t do it alone.”
Some questions – in part from Hoboken resident of four years Mark Jackson and Councilman-at-large James Doyle – revolved around what Dewberry would do if the $230 million isn’t enough money for the final flood-prevention design that is chosen.
During the preliminary period the community and project planners will decide on three plans for the project, with the possibility of a “no action plan” also looming and ultimately honing in on a final design.
“As part of [the] feasibility phase, [we are] required to evaluate alternative [plans] and price them,” said Dennis Reinknecht, the Rebuild by Design project manager for NJDEP. “The goal is to come up with an alternative that meets the resist, delay, store, and discharge program as a whole approach within the $230 million.”
Dewberry officials added that were a plan not to have sufficient funds it may be decided to have a staged approach to the project and additional funding would have to be sought. However, they emphasized how it is too early in the process to tell.
Deciding on a “no action plan” could have detrimental consequences for the low-lying western edge sector of Hoboken, noted Dewberry Senior Planner Jennifer Baer.
Solving surges, heavy rainfall
“The bottom line is that thanks to the Rebuild By Design competition, which we worked extremely hard to win, we have a great opportunity,” said Zimmer at the end of the meeting.
“This is a historic opportunity and an amazing opportunity to solve a flooding problem that goes back 100 years, so I’m really proud our community is coming out, getting engaged, and we’re trying to help them understand the complicated process.”
Zimmer recently praised the City Council for moving forward with other flood-resistant initiatives. These include approving a bond for $16.7 million for the BASF-owned site on 11th Street which will hold over 1 million gallons of storm water, the park and plaza at 7th and Jackson, and the Southwest Park, which begins construction this fall and is designed to hold over 200,000 gallons of storm water runoff.
The four-part Rebuild by Design plan cites other ways the city is working to solve its flood problem, such as upgrading the city’s existing sewer lines and pumping stations. During a Feb. 23 City Council meeting, bonding for a pump in the northwestern part of town was passed. Prior to Thursday’s meeting, Executive Director of the North Hudson Sewage Authority Richard Wolff said construction of the flood pump is currently running on schedule and set to be completed by October 2016.
In addition to the public meetings, the city of Hoboken also has a Citizens Advisory Group (CAG) in place to meet with the NJDEP regularly and advocate for resident’s concerns.
The 37-member group is made up City Council President Ravi Bhalla, Hoboken Historical Museum Director Bob Foster, Hoboken Chamber of Commerce President Richard Mackiewicz, Fund for a Better Waterfront Executive Ron Hine, and American Legion Post 107 Commander John Carey.
“I think it’s critical for the public to come and understand what is happening to protect Hoboken from future tidal surges but just as important protecting against the century-old problem of flooding,” said Bhalla at the conclusion of the meeting.
Future meetings
Anyone who was unable to attend the meeting is encouraged is send comments by email to rbd-hudsonriver@dep.nj.org or by mail to David Rosenblatt, Director, Office of Flood Hazard Risk Reduction Measures, 401 East State St., Mail code: 501-01A, P.O. Box 420, Trenton, NJ, 08625-0420.
Comments must be received by Oct. 9, which is also the date of the next public meeting. There will also be two upcoming drop-in open house meetings, where members of the public will have a chance to ask questions to experts or submit comments, at Hoboken City Hall’s basement conference, at 94 Washington St.
The first meeting will take place on Tuesday, Sept. 29 from 4 p.m. to 8 p.m. and the second on Oct. 1 from 6:30 p.m. to 8:30 p.m.
A public meeting is scheduled for November to discuss the project’s concepts, as well as an Alternatives Analysis meeting in February 2016 and a public hearing for the EIS draft in July 2016. Notices for exact time, date and location will be published 15 days in advance of the meetings. For updates on future meetings and details on for a draft of the scoping document visit www.rbd-hudsonriver.nj.gov.
Steven Rodas can be reached at srodas@hudsonreporter.com.