Residents Pitch Their Ideas to Prevent Flood Damage at Village Hall

No fewer than a dozen Ridgewood residents toured the and offered their own ideas on how the village can protect its biggest municipal asset from chronic flooding.

Officials estimate the , but that figure may even be higher depending on the solutions found. After leading the tour and following discussion, Mayor Keith Killion remarked that there appear several culprits at play.

"The way of flooding not only in Ridgewood but in Northern New Jersey has gotten worse," the mayor said, citing too much building, a lack of dredging, and a lack of money as some of the major factors. "It happened over a long time and it's going to take a long time to fix," he said. 

But to the mayor, timing was of the essence.

"I'd like to get it done yesterday," he said to those in attendance. "I'm not a great fan of studying something to death. We have to get those rooms done, we need those meeting places, we need Village Hall to get back to looking normal – but we need something that will sustain water damage. Once we get specifications and a price, I'd like to move forward as soon as possible."

Killion, with Councilwoman Bernadette Walsh in attendance, said he suggests using masonry blocks like the ones built at the Vets Field bathrooms. The blocks require mere hosing off and then they're ready to go without incurring damage, he said. "They're just bathrooms so it's kind of simple, and we're talking something a little bigger downstairs," he said, conceding the "nuts and bolts" on costs would have to be thoroughly vetted.

One thing's for sure, the village has no plans on buying more sheetrock only to face deja vu all over again.

Members of the public–including professionals in the building field–brought forth different ideas that piqued the interest of top officials in attendance.

Local builder Gary Schulze, along with former fire chief Jim Bombace, suggested the village look into "DensSheild" boards, water-resistant fiberglass panels in 4X8 sheets.

Unlike the sheetrock previously adorning Village Hall, this material was not suseptible to mold and was developed in the wake of Hurricane Katrina, Bombace said. Much like the council's initial idea to replicate the bathroom tiling at Vets Field–this would involve minimal cleanup, the ex-fire chief said.

There could be a problem, however. It costs about $15-16, double that of sheetrock, Bombace said. "But you would leave it in the bottoms of the walls so when water comes [into the building] it's gonna want to go to the bottom of the walls," Schulze added. "Let it go in, then when water comes out, drain it [the panels]."

Bombace speculated that because the village would be making a large purchase should they go the DensSheild route, they'd likely get a good deal.

The partition walls, Killion said, become the expensive part. "When you get into the nuts and bolts...I don't know," he said of those costs.

Others suggested reorganizing how rooms are used to minimize the real impact of losing valuable rooms like the senior and youth center, which the mayor said are too expensive to move out of Village Hall.

Assistant Village Engineer Jovan Mehandzic reported there are 74 seepage tanks beneath the parking lot, which is enough to manage smaller floods but certainly not enough to contain the 100 year floods that occur more regularly. Additionally, the check valves in place only buy the village several hours before the waters hit, he said.

"We're pretty maxed out in space under the parking lot," Mehandzic said in response to architect Isabella Altano's question if a water percolation test could be done to assess drainage outside of Village Hall, as well as the possibility of adding more pumping capacity.

"Besides restoring the downstairs, [a goal] is getting a more fortified pump on the inside to trap that water [and] pump it over the wall," Mehandzic said.

Based on ideas pitched, the Village Manager and Village Engineer will work on some cost estimates and see if the council can appopriate it in the budget. Killion said the village would be careful in serving "two masters" – to get it done "the right way" but to also "get it done fast."

Larger potential solutions like dredging would be likely required for the whole river, not just Ridgewood, the mayor said. The DEP likely wouldn't sign off on that anytime soon, if at all, he added. And dealing with the feds, the state, various agencies and the county is no small undertaking.

In the meantime, the village will be looking to form an alliance with other municipalities to get some help.

"I hope down in Trenton they get it. We're hurting up here," Killion said.

Just his voice wouldn't be enough, the mayor surmised. "When you get 25-30 towns which is a good voting block, maybe they'll listen."