Town Officials Keep Eye on Flood-Control Project

As spring rains approach and the township seeks to complete its five-phase flood-control program, more than 400 families still remain in danger of flooding, said Mayor Dan Aschenbach. But measures taken in 2006 have protected residents over the last five years, including last month, when water came within three inches of spilling over the river's dikes.

While raising the level of the river walls remains dependent on federal funds, Cranford aims to complete Phase 2B – the connecting of streets and sewers near Riverside Drive and Glenwood Road into the pump station – by the end of next year. No significant permitting is required for its completion, and the project will be funded by a state loan at well below market interest rates, the mayor said.

Completion will have an added benefit to the township, Aschenbach said: It will lower the amount of storm water flowing into the sanitary sewers and reduce Cranford's sewage costs.

Funded though a combination of municipal, county and state funds, Cranford has already completed the first two phases of the flood control project. An express sewer takes in rainwater that previously flowed over properties. It is now collected in a large swale and transported into the river. And a station pumps flood waters that would otherwise flow over the dike back into the river.

Last April, when Cranford experienced its fourth worst storm on record, the waters nearly flowed over the dikes. That storm was considered a “50-year” storm. Implementation of the remaining phases should protect Cranford from more serious “75- to 100-year” storms.

Phase 5 involves the purchase of property for a pump station. The pump station would protect areas on the west side of the river, the Balmiere Parkway side. Plans to purchase an unoccupied property with county open space funds hit a roadblock when the property appraised at an amount lower than the seller's mortgage. Aschenbach said that while eminent domain is still an option, the township and county will continue to work with the owner and the bank to find a solution.

While Phases 2B and 5 are within reach, Phases 3 and 4 -- raising the height of the river walls from Kenilworth Boulevard to Springfield Avenue -- is dependent on federal funds.

“The most critical aspect of the overall program is the rehabilitation and heightening of the river walls that would provide additional protection,” the mayor said. “The federal involvement would ensure federal funding of a large portion of the cost. In a recent meeting I attended along with Township Engineer Rick Marsden and Consulting Engineer Leo Coakley at the Army Corps Engineers offices in Manhattan, it was stated that the structural integrity
of the dikes was inadequate. In other words Cranford has to make this project a top public safety priority.”

The the climate in Washington this year suggests that federal funds may be difficult to come by, but the mayor says that funds, while competitive, should be available for a safety issue.

“Since I was first involved in local government, federal budget cutting has always been a fear,” he said. “If we demonstrate our need it will get funded as a public safety effort.”

He welcomed residents to contact Sens. Frank Lautenberg and Robert Menendez, and Rep. Leonard Lance, to push for funding for these remaining phases of the flood control project.