file photos courtesy of Boyd Loving
the staff of the Ridgewood blog
Ridgewood has faced significant challenges with flooding, experiencing three major floods from October to January. This prompted village officials to intensify discussions with regional and national agencies to develop a robust water control solution.
Recently, the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers held a public meeting at the request of village officials to assist in designing both short- and long-term flood control plans for the Saddle River and Ho-Ho-Kus Brook, which traverse the village. Hosted by Deputy Chief of Planning Stephen Couch, the meeting addressed regional challenges in controlling water flow in the flood-prone Passaic River Basin, spanning 935 square miles across 116 municipalities in North Jersey and southern New York. Couch also heard residents’ concerns about local flooding impacts.
“Resilient Ridgewood” Report
The meeting followed the submission of the “Resilient Ridgewood” report by Columbia University’s School of International and Public Affairs. The report, presented to the village’s Green Ridgewood committee, offers comprehensive suggestions for reducing flooding and minimizing the village’s carbon footprint.
One immediate recommendation is a homeowner “rain barrel” initiative aimed at expanding water retention in the village’s uphill region to reduce runoff and flooding in lower areas. Ridgewood Water is already promoting rain barrel use, which also conserves water during the summer.
Resident Concerns and Climate Change
Residents at the meeting attributed the increased flooding to climate change, more impervious surfaces, artificial turf on two sports fields near Ho-Ho-Kus Brook, and upstream bridge widening. Both Couch and the Columbia report emphasized that there is no single solution to the flooding problem.
Village Manager Keith Kazmark reassured residents, “It is not a solution that is going to come to fruition overnight, but if we are committed and dedicated, there is light at the end of the tunnel.”
Flood Insurance Challenges
One issue raised by residents was the steep rise in flood insurance costs, with one resident reporting an increase from $1,100 to $5,179 due to a change in the village’s rating by FEMA. The “Resilient Ridgewood” report explains that FEMA’s Community Rating System (CRS) assigns municipalities a rating from 1 (highest) to 10 (lowest) based on their water mitigation efforts. Each tier provides a 5% discount on homeowner flood insurance premiums. Ridgewood’s current rating is a 6, considered below average.
The report recommends appointing a dedicated flooding team or hiring a full-time hydrologist and environmental planner to improve data collection and the village’s CRS score. Kazmark mentioned that the local Engineering Department strives each year to earn more points with the CRS and that engaging with the Army Corps of Engineers will aid in this endeavor.
Schedler Property Controversy
The meeting and report coincide with the village’s submission of a revised application to the State Historic Preservation Office to install an artificial turf multi-purpose sports field on the historic Zabriskie Schedler property. The proposal argues that the village lacks sufficient sports fields and that artificial turf can meet the demand better than grass. However, opponents argue that artificial turf poses environmental and health risks, while proponents claim that grass fields also have drawbacks, including the need for maintenance and use of chemicals.
The Columbia report suggests removing artificial turf from Stevens Field and the adjacent high school Stadium Field in favor of grass to improve water absorption, paired with underground detention basins. This would, however, require the fields to be out of commission for two to three years, reducing available sports space.
Opponents of the Schedler artificial turf proposal have cited flooding concerns, though Kazmark stated, “There is no evidence there are wetlands on the property. The Saddle River does not flood Schedler.”
The School District is collaborating with the Village, the Army Corps, and architectural firms to assess flooding patterns and the impact of storms and debris congestion near the stadium field. More information is expected to be shared in the coming year.
A Multi-Pronged Approach
Green Ridgewood Chair David Refkin emphasized that the solution to Ridgewood’s flooding is multi-pronged. “There’s no one silver bullet. There’s a lot of things that we can do short term, medium term, and long term. And the Army Corps is a potential long-term solution.”
As Ridgewood continues to tackle its flooding challenges, the collaborative efforts between the village, residents, and regional and national agencies hold promise for a more resilient future.
STOP BUILDING
This is New Jersey. Bergen County to be precise. Good luck with that.
May we have a link to this “Resilient Ridgewood” report?
Don’t be ridiculous.
Artificial turf needs to go. It just didn’t work out and the cost to maintain is not feasible. Only made flooding issues worse.
None of these recommendations, long or short-term, will do anything to alleviate the Village flooding issues. Rain barrels? Artificial turf removal? Cleaning culverts or bridge widening? Blaming “climate change”? It’s all nonsensical and accomplishes nothing. The high school field, Veterans Field, and too many homes were simply built on a flood plain. Since laws won’t permit walling off these areas, the long-term problem is whether to relocate these fields/homes/buildings or accept the fact that this cannot be solved – ever. It seems to me that Village Hall should be reconfigured to accept the fact the basement will flood on occasion and that the Valley Hospital property may be the best solution to the Village sports field dilemma. Solutions, not bloviating – or fooling ourselves.
I thought about the Valley property too. They should donate it to the Ridgewood School System. The fields near the HS could be green space that may flood occasionally.
Since the HS field and sports would be relocated to the Valley property there is no net gain. We would still need Schedler for youth sports. That is a Village property not RPS property
The Resilient Ridgewood report recommends, among other actions, that Ridgewood encourage, even mandate (p48) installation of rain barrels as a flood control measure. Gardeners may use rain barrels as part of a grey-water irrigation strategy, but they are completely ineffective as flood control measures. Let’s look at the reason, using numbers from the report:
The report assumes 6000 homes in Ridgewood (p12) capable of benefiting from rain barrels. Assuming a 100 gallon rain barrel (p12) at each house, that means that the maximum storage capacity for all the houses in Ridgewood assuming the 100% installation mandate would be 600,000 gallons. The Ho-Ho-Kus brook at peak flood stage tops out at 1000 cubic feet per second (p 24). That translates into 7480 liquid gallons per second. So peak flood stage the entire contents of all the rain barrels (600K) passes through the brook at 7480 gps in 600,000/7480 = 80 seconds.
This assumes that the rain barrels are empty at the start of the rain and doesn’t account for the fact that the brook’s watershed doesn’t come close to covering all of the village – there’s at least the Saddle River watershed, and all the properties on the west side of the ridge that feed the Goffle Brook. So fewer than 6000 properties are feeding the Ho-Ho-Kus brook. The report does realize the discrepancy between rain barrel storage and flood control requirements when it notes that “the total capture would be about 0.10% of the total flood volume” (p 12). (I submit that that estimate is an overstatement of the benefits of rain barrels.) Clearly, the author of the recommendations didn’t closely read the section on flooding.
In 2009, in a paper entitled “Assessment of Environmental, Health and Human Safety Concerns Related to the Synthetic Turf Surface at Maple Park in Ridgewood, NJ”, the Ridgewood Environmental Advisory Committee stated:
“In conclusion, REAC believes that the synthetic turf and drainage system at Maple Park is a viable
alternative to natural grass fields in Ridgewood’s flood plain. Furthermore, the Village’s experience at Maple Park demonstrates that there are significant environmental and functional advantages with this system over the previous natural grass field. Based on the experience at Maple Park, there does not appear to be evidence for environmental concern about these fields in Ridgewood’s flood plain”
REAC has been rebranded as “Green Ridgewood”, but their recommendations are just as erroneous as ever. This report has been commissioned to serve their agenda, not be the basis of a serious discussion of flood control measures. This seems to be part of an effort to persuade the Council to adopt their pet rain barrel project.
It’s disappointing that Columbia would lend its name to this poor effort but one might ask how those public affairs students are qualified to opine on matters of engineering. There are plenty of other problems in the report – the rain barrels are just one example. Does anyone really think rerouting the brook is a viable option? That electrifying the Village fleet will have any measurable affect on global warming?
No doubt
Valley property sb converted to a sports complex.
Maybe step up on maintenance,
I like the new format for posts. The headings make it more readable and highlight the contents.
Definitely do more maintenance. It helps. Right 👨🏻⚕️you ‘