Ridgewood files destroyed in flood prove to be costly
NOVEMBER 4, 2014 LAST UPDATED: TUESDAY, NOVEMBER 4, 2014, 2:05 PM
BY JODI WEINBERGER
STAFF WRITER |
THE RIDGEWOOD NEWS
A state-licensed site remediation professional (LSRP) will perform costly tests to the soil at the Ridgewood Library to determine whether pesticide contamination seeped into the groundwater.
At a Ridgewood Library Board of Trustees meeting last month, members expressed frustration that they were again being asked to shell out thousands of dollars to address what board president John Johansen called a “decades old paperwork problem.”
This issue dates back to 1997 when the state told the library to remove a 2,500-gallon underground oil tank from the front lawn. A couple years ago, the state Department of Environmental Protection (DEP) came back to the library saying that the paperwork for the tank removal was never completed, and soil testing would need to be done to put the case to rest.
Although the board believes that the work was done correctly at the time, the paperwork to prove it was lost along with boxes and boxes of other files during Tropical Storm Floyd in 1999.
“When Village Hall flooded, most of the records were down on the first floor,” said village attorney Matt Rogers. “We lost a tremendous amount of planning and zoning files.”
https://www.northjersey.com/news/environment/files-lost-in-flood-prove-to-be-costly-1.1126169
Several lessons SHOULD have been learned here (but obviously were not):
1) Do not build anything, especially a critical building, in a flood zone ($14 million and counting spent to rebuild Village Hall at the same flood prone location).
2) If you are stupid and build in a flood zone, don’t put anything of value at ground level (how much are we about to spend on decorations and equipment for the senior center at Village Hall and how much money was lost when Irene flooded the first floor and police garage?).
Water trail hard to follow.
Stupidity reigns supreme in the village hopefully with a new manager things will slowly get better.
Don’t count on it….. Why should it anyway?
More of the same crap from the usual lackeys toadies and sycophants….
The ground level/first floor of Village Hall should have been converted to under building parking. Nothing of value should be there.
Hey – Isn’t the Parking Utility’s coin room located on the ground level? Smart move.
Coins don’t dissolve. Besides, you can steal more in a kayak or raft than you can by just walking out with your pockets full.
Speaking of coins, I love, Love, LOVE all the new meters in town!! Muni meters are so convenient and accountable anyway.