[POLL] DEC Classifies Dam on FASNY Site As ‘Low Hazard’

Though the water impoundment structure at 400 Ridgeway—which has been classified by the New York State Department of Environmental Conservation (NYSDEC) as a dam—is leaking, it does not pose a significant safety threat.

Dam Is Structurally Stable

“It doesn’t appear to be in imminent danger of failure, according to what level the state has attached to it,” said White Plains Department of Public Works Commissioner Bud Nicoletti, who serves as the City’s storm water manager.

NYSDEC is currently classifying the structure, located on the former Ridgeway Country Club site now owned by the French-American School of New York, as a Class A low hazard dam that “has several dam safety deficiencies, as identified by the [FASNY’s] engineer,” said the NYSDEC Dam and Safety Staff, in an email to White Plains Patch.

“A Class A dam failure is unlikely to result in damage to anything more than isolated or unoccupied buildings, undeveloped lands, minor roads such as town or country roads, is unlikely to result in the interruption of important utilities, including water supply sewage treatment, fuel, power, cable or telephone infrastructure; and/or is otherwise unlikely to post the threat of personal injury, substantial economic loss or substantial environmental damage,” according to the NYSDEC’s definition.

The dam—which according to FASNY’s engineers is 10 to 12 feet at its center and holds back 10 million gallons of water—was built by the country club between the 1960s and 70s to hold back the large retention pond, which was used to irrigate the golf course and has about 5 acres of surface area.

“Our preliminary assessment of the dam is that it is currently in fair condition and appears to be structurally stable,” said Robert Simpson of Carlin, Simpson & Associates, FASNY’s engineering firm, in a Feb. 23 memo. “However, improvements are needed to bring the dam up to NYSEDC standards.”

Dam Rehabilitation

FASNY has applied for a DEC Dam Safety permit to perform remedial work on the dam. Prior to permit approval, FASNY will remove dead and dying trees around and along the downstream slope and embankment of the structure. 

The permit will consist of plans, specifications and an engineering report—which will offer a technical assessment of the dam, and proposed work to rehabilitate the dam and bring it into compliance with the DEC’s dam safety standards. It will also provide a review of the dam’s assignment of a hazard classification. 

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After the permit is issued FASNY will remove the root systems of the trees, perform more invasive earthwork, and will clear the remaining trees on the dam. According to the DEC’s Dam Safety staff, FASNY’s engineers will regularly inspect the dam.

Dam: Issue or Non-Issue 

The DEC, which is the regulatory agency for dams, became aware of the structure last year after when FASNY stopped irrigating the property. Some residents claimed that if the dam were to fail it could be “potentially devastating” and suggested that it could cause damage to Ridgeway Alliance Church and surrounding properties.

At the time and that local residents—who already opposed FASNY’s plans to created a nursery school through twelfth grade campus on the 128-acre site—were using the issue to increase opposition toward the project.

The Gedney Association, a neighborhood organization that advocates for the Gedney Farms neighborhood, shows a diagram of the potential flood path that heads toward Ridgeway Alliance Nursery School on its website here. It recently sent out a mass email, also posted on its website, throughout the city that updated residents on the status of the dam saying that it was “compromised” but not in “immediate danger of complete failure.”

“There had never been permits or involvement by the DEC or the City, or any complaints or attempts to evaluate whether is it a dam or not,” said Geoff Thompson, a spokesperson for FASNY. “None of that existed prior to neighbors seeking to create an issue.”

Thompson said that the seepage under the berm is typical of an earthen dam and that FASNY is currently waiting for the DEC to sign off on its maintenance plan to upkeep the pond and dam—which he said will make an attractive feature in the open space conservancy planned for the site.

“To suggest the berm is in danger is to evoke imagery of flooding is really irresponsible,” said Thompson.

Gedney Association President Terence Guerriere said the organization is frustrated with the fact that FASNY would jump to make statements, saying that the impoundment structure isn’t a dam, before researching whether they were accurate.

“I don’t think they are dishonest people, I assume they just didn’t know there was a dam on the property,” said Guerriere. “They tried to make it seem like we were exaggerating, but we were being accurate and we were being concerned. I believe they’ve encountered a series of problems with the problems they didn’t anticipate with the property.”

Guerriere said these things can be expected to happen when you fail to diligently research a site before investing a substantial amount of to quickly purchase a piece of property, as he said FASNY did.

“Obviously we knew there was a pond there, and that it was retained by a berm,” said Thompson. “Once we bought the property, FASNY did a thorough job at looking at the entire property. We know a lot about the hydrology and the way those ponds work. I suggest we know it [the property] better then anyone has ever understood it—including the country club.”

Thompson said that FASNY has and will continue to maintain the property to the best of its ability, and according to standards established by regulatory authorities. 

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