Requests $5M to fund remediation
With the Army Corps of Engineers (ACE) finally in agreement with the state and county about the terms of the long-awaited flood study, the Village of Mamaroneck is preparing to move ahead with its own flood mitigation projects. Village Manager Richard Slingerland has submitted grant applications for five small flood projects to Congresswoman Nita Lowey’s office. The village is seeking $2.7 million to fund the projects whose estimated cost is $5.4 million.

The projects are those that have been discussed for years, whose merits have been debated in Village Hall and beyond. Slingerland has confirmed with the ACE that all of the proposed small projects that won’t reduce or take away the opportunity to get funding for the big project that will come out of the ACE’s Study.

Structures identified as flood obstructions will be removed, beginning with the replacement of the Jefferson Avenue Bridge and its problematic center support, which frequently traps debris in the river. The village is working with the Town of Rye, with whom it shares a 50/50 responsibility for repair and maintenance for the bridges within the two municipalities. Slingerland said the village is currently waiting for the Town of Rye to return a signed letter of understanding laying out responsibility for each part of the project.

The ACE confirmed that the village can move ahead with the Jefferson Avenue Bridge project but has sent a letter indicating that the village would need to bury the supports five feet deeper than current plans show, as ACE may ultimately dredge the river.

According to Slingerland, the village actually bid out the project in 2007, but the cost was daunting to the village and they held off on the project. Slingerland said the village would work on design for the project over the next year or so and will hopefully get funding so construction can begin. The total cost for the project is estimated at $3 million, with the village requesting $1.5 million in funding.

Two other flood projects targeted by the village are the bridge to Winfield Avenue and Harrison’s Glendale Avenue - the infamous “Road to Nowhere.” Both sites were confirmed with the village’s engineering firm, Leonard Jackson Associates, as flood obstructions. Winfield Avenue is currently closed to vehicular traffic and remains as a walking bridge only. Removing it would cost the village $400,000, half of which they are requesting in their grant application.

Though the protruding end of Glendale Avenue enters the river from Harrison, Slingerland said the benefit of removing it would be to the residents of the Village of Mamaroneck. Harrison Mayor Joan Walsh (D) said there were discussions about removing the road in the past, and that at one point, there was a concrete plan of how to do it, but the town ran out of money.

“I’m sure an agreement can be reached with Harrison,” said Mamaroneck Mayor Norman Rosenblum (R). “It’s worth the investment by the village.”

Other projects include catch basin and other storm water repairs along Boston Post Road and inflow and infiltration remediation work that is meant to help mediate the flow of groundwater during heavy rains, which can cause backups in the sanitary sewer system and overwhelm the sewage treatment plant.