BAY HEAD — The mayor, council and the Bay Head Environmental Commission have been working for years to try to mitigate flooding in the borough.
But at the April 7 council meeting, the meeting room was overflowing with residents expressing their concern and disappointment in the council for not submitting another grant application that could possibly secure another $3 million in federal flood-mitigation funding.
Ultimately, the council members listened to the residents’ concerns and unanimously voted to approve the additional application for submission.
At the council meeting on Feb. 3, the council had unveiled several plans to help combat flooding in the borough.
The first was an ordinance that was unanimously introduced for the first stage of a project at Scow Ditch. This project will be funded by a grant from the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) for $1,087,000.
The project will include engineering and design only for a flood gate, water level control pumping station in Scow Ditch and a living shoreline for all of Twilight Lake. This is a 25% matching grant. Colliers Engineering was awarded the contract to begin this phase of the project. For actual construction, the borough will have to apply for more funding in the future.
The council also announced it received a separate FEMA grant, also for $1,087,000, that will be used for the construction and repair of multiple bulkheads around the borough. These grants are known as FEMA grants 1 and 2, respectively.
Both are 25% matching grants, meaning the borough has to provide $271,750 for each of them. Each was written and submitted by the environmental commission, which needs council approval to submit them.
A third grant from FEMA, referred to as FEMA Grant 3, was also written by the environmental commission, with a submission due date of April 8. However, as this grant was not on the agenda, it seemed the council had opted to not submit this grant to FEMA, which elicited criticism from residents in the standing room-only crowd.
As public comment began, Rick McGoey, a resident of Harris Street and member of the environmental commission, said, “I noticed the council has decided not to proceed with this application for a grant for flood mitigation, as it was not on the agenda tonight. This was an application we have been working on since the opportunity was announced on Jan. 6.”
He explained a copy of this grant application was sent to the council on March 6 and March 30 for review and comment. This was also submitted to the state as well for review and comment. The environmental commission heard comments from both the council and the state and made adjustments to the application.
“We can’t submit this without a resolution from the council of Bay Head. It is due tomorrow, so without a resolution from Bay Head, we won’t be able to submit it,” said McGoey.
FEMA Grant 3 is part of what McGoey describes as “methodical, systematic approach to address a major issue in town, flooding.” He added, “I want to make sure it is very clear, the council considers flooding to be a priority in this town. Over the last eight months they have made significant decisions to support the flood mitigation effort. So it is not a question of whether they support us or not, as the council has demonstrated that, at least to me, that this is very important.”
This new grant, the next step in the overall flood mitigation plan for Bay Head, would put in piping to connect existing sewer drain systems on Lake Avenue and Clayton Avenue to pump stations. McGoey explained this has been done in the neighboring town of Mantoloking with great success.
“This is a very important step to mitigate flooding on Lake Avenue and Clayton Avenue. It is about $3 million to install that…The environmental commission, working with the council, decided to go after a grant that would help with that money,” McGoey further said.
This grant would be another 25% matching grant, meaning the borough would have to put up approximately $750,000 if they decided to accept the grant.
“This upsets the momentum, in my mind, for flood mitigation in Bay Head,” said McGoey. “With respect to the current application that is in front of us, FEMA Grant 3, it is disappointing we are not proceeding. The council clearly made this decision to not bring it forward tonight, not to get input from the town, not get input from the public on a critical issue that the council all agrees on. You have basically made a pocket decision without any input from the town.”
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