Fish Delay Repairs To Flood-Prone Brook

Repairs to a large section of the will begin once the Department of Environmental Protection fully stocks the waterway with trout, officials announced on Wednesday.

The mayor and council approved an ordinance to allocate a total of $422,000 to clear the waterway of large sandbars and various debris that's piled up in the last decade. The project is getting a financial boost in the way of a $343,860 federal grant. The remaining funds will be drawn from the village's capital ledgers, totaling just over $78,000.

Though officials would undeniably prefer work to start as soon as possible, a sea of fish is holding up the process. Village Engineer Chris Rutishauser previously said construction work in the brook could not begin before the trout were stocked, expected to happen within the next few months.

With required permits now in hand, Village Gabbert said Wednesday that realistically the work can begin in the fall. Trees and boulders are scheduled to be removed, with sandbars blown down to allow for a clearer water path. 

The planned work on the brook – which will extend from the Ho-Ho-Kus border to Glen Rock – does not address the brook banks, which have eroded.

Residents along the brook's path have made clear their disappointment the brook had not seen much maintenance since Hurricane Floyd rage in 1999.

Though repairs are expected to help mitigate some of the flood impacts that cut through prime real estate in the village, flooding is going to remain a concern in the long run. 

Councilwoman Bernadette Walsh, at a meeting Jan. 25, asked if there were as the work proposed does not include widening the brook, dredging or changing the water flow direction. 

"If we're going to have another sandbar after the next storm, we're defeating the purpose of doing all the work to begin with," she said.

"What you say is correct," Rutishauser replied. "The only way we could mitigate or eliminate the material is that the river bottom literally has to be concrete. And that's not going to happen."