Hoboken Seeks Input On Plan to Protect Residents From Flooding

A public meeting will be held on Tuesday, Jan. 20 to solicit feedback from the public on the “Hudson River Resist, Delay, Store, Discharge Rebuild by Design” component of the State’s Action Plan. The project would protect Hoboken, Weehawken, and northern Jersey City from flooding.

The meeting will take place at 7 p.m. at the Hoboken Multi Service Center, located at 124 Grand Street.

“I am proud that we are moving forward on this transformational project to make Hoboken and our neighbors more resilient to flooding,” Mayor Dawn Zimmer said. “This is an opportunity for members of the community to speak directly to representatives from the State and Federal government about how important it is to complete this project as quickly as possible.”

Representatives from the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development, N.J. Department of Environmental Protection, Rebuild by Design, City of Hoboken, and Township of Weehawken will be in attendance to discuss the project and listen to community feedback.

The City will officially submit feedback collected through this community meeting to the State and HUD as part of its own feedback.

“I thank all of the officials that agreed to participate in an additional public meeting,” Weehawken Mayor Richard F. Turner added. “Without my and Mayor Zimmer’s advocacy, we would not be having a community meeting hosted to engage residents of Hudson County.”

State Funding

On Dec. 16, 2014, the State of New Jersey announced its Action Plan for the third round of Sandy funding which includes $230 million for the first phase of a comprehensive flood protection plan for Hoboken, Weehawken, and northern Jersey City awarded as part of the Rebuild by Design competition. The Action Plan Amendment related to the Rebuild by Design plan can be viewed here.

According to the proposed Action Plan, feasibility studies will take one to two years, followed by approximately two years for the design phase, followed by construction. The New Jersey Department of Environmental Protection will receive the $230 million in funding and manage the project.

Two public hearings on the Action Plan Amendment were scheduled for Jan. 6 in Toms River and Jan. 7 in Paramus. The Jan. 20 public meeting is specifically to collect feedback on the Hudson River Project element of the Action Plan.

Public comments will also be accepted through January 15, 2015 at 5:00 pm via email to sandy.publiccomment@dca.state.nj.us and via U.S. mail to Jamie Saults, Constituent Services Manager, Sandy Recovery Division, NJ Department of Community Affairs, 101 South Broad Street, Post Office Box 800, Trenton, New Jersey 08625-0800.

The City of Hoboken asks that written comments also be copied to floodplan@hobokennj.gov so that the City can incorporate community input into its formal feedback on the action plan.

Photo courtesy of the City of Hoboken

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