What’s Up With Flood Mitigation?

by Kathy Savolt -

Apparently everything.  Since the Trump administration took office in January and began an overhaul of the Federal government, not much is certain when it comes to fighting flooding in the Village.

As we first reported a week after the inauguration (see HERE) the involvement of the US Army Corps of Engineers (ACE) project to combat flooding in the Village of Mamaroneck is still uncertain.  However, ACE staff continue to meet biweekly with representatives from the Village, Westchester County and New York State Department of Environmental Conservation (NYSDEC) to discuss how to move the project forward.

Background

ACE has, over the years, proposed various projects to combat flooding in the Village that never got off the ground.  After severe flooding in 2007, ACE began another project to lessen the impact of local flooding.  See summary HERE. A design agreement was signed in 2010 and when completed, the project was estimated to cost $127,416,000.  The project was halted early in the first Trump administration but resurrected during the Biden administration.  In January 2022, Congress appropriated almost $88 million for the project.  This was followed by commitments for matching funds of $44 million from New York State and Westchester County.  However, the time lapse since then resulted in a new project estimate of $150 million and more funds were requested from Congress that put the project in limbo.

Current Status of ACE

As ACE continues to participate in the project, the Village is waiting for a final decision.  There has been discussion about the Village “taking over the ACE project” but Mayor Sharon Torres reports that ACE officials maintain they must be involved at some level.  Meanwhile, the Village is still prohibited from initiating any other project that might impact ACE’s analyses of the rivers and their hydrology.

Meanwhile…

The previous Village administration worked on cleaning debris from the rivers and some smaller projects that met grant funding requirements, such as improving storm sewer capacity in areas around the Village.

The new Village administration has been coming up to speed on past efforts and working toward a comprehensive multi-year plan for flood mitigation as Village Manager Kathleen Gill pledged when she arrived (see previous article HERE). Assistant Manager Dennis Delborgo has been reviewing the NYSDEC reports on the Mamaroneck/Sheldrake River (see HERE) and the Beaver Swamp Brook (see HERE) – a total of almost 400 pages that can serve as a blueprint for action.  It is estimated that the projects outlined in these reports, plus the ACE project, will cost hundreds of millions of dollars if implemented.

Searching for Alternative Funding

Both New York State and Westchester County have grant opportunities for flood mitigation projects.  The State has pledged at least $45 million from the latest Environmental Bond Act for flooding.  With the ACE embargo on projects that could impact their work, the Village is having difficulty accessing these funds as the State and County are looking for relatively small, “shovel-ready” projects. 

Another past source of grant funding has been the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) but President Trump has recently called for that agency to be disbanded.  Since FEMA grants are “reimbursable grants”, i.e., the Village first spends the money and then gets paid back when the work is done, it is extremely risky to undertake any project if funds are not guaranteed.  The Village continues to attempt to get commitments, especially for the current Wood-Jefferson drainage project, but given the way things are changing in Washington, even a commitment might not be good down the road.

A Plan to Create a Plan

With limited funds and a lot of work to be done, the Village is putting together a multi-year plan to set priorities instead of developing projects based on availability of grant money, which is only one criteria.  This plan will be publicly available, aiding in transparency and increased communication with the public.  Additionally, the revamped Flood Committee, comprised of volunteer residents, will also act as an exchange of information between residents and Village officials.

As Mayor Torres explained, setting priorities with uncertainty is challenging.  Also, there are many variables to be considered: impact of project, engineering considerations (engineers explain work must start down river because if it starts upriver, the improved flow will flood the downriver areas), cost, available funding, and capacity of the Village to successfully oversee and complete the project.  Since most, if not all, potential funding is governmental, the Village will have to lay out the total project costs upfront and get reimbursed.  Finding these enormous amounts of money will be challenging although when asked, Gill said that if things developed where the Village would be managing any large project with government spending, she expected there would be an opportunity to work out progress payments or some other alternative.