Township eyes flood-prone homes

State grant would allow purchases in Lawrence.

By: Lea Kahn
   Lawrence Township is in line to receive a $750,000 matching state grant to buy houses in flood-prone areas along the banks of the Shabakunk Creek.
   In a Dec. 20 letter from state Department of Environmental Protection Commissioner Bradley Campbell, township officials learned that the township would receive the state grant, subject to the upcoming state budget, Municipal Manager William Guhl said.
   Lawrence Township would have to match the state grant with $250,000 of its own money — for a total of $1 million, Mr. Guhl told Township Council on Tuesday. The money could be raised through a bond ordinance or by allocating money generated by the municipal open space tax, he said.
   That would be enough money to buy a few of the 15 to 18 houses that sit in the floodplain along the Shabakunk Creek, given the high cost of houses today, Mr. Guhl said. The creek flows through Lawrence, from its border with Ewing to its border with Hamilton.
   The township has identified properties — on Princeton Pike near Fairfield Avenue, on Lawrence Road near Notre Dame High School, on Glenview Drive at Lakedale Drive, and along Hazelhurst and Zoar avenues — that have flooded several times in the past few years, Mr. Guhl said.
   Flooding is a "very significant problem" in those areas, Mr. Guhl said. While the township is not responsible for the flooded properties, township officials feel there is a moral obligation to help the property owners by offering to purchase the properties, he said.
   "In the past, government has permitted building in places where, with a little hindsight, it was not suitable," Mr. Guhl said. The houses affected by flooding along the Shabakunk Creek were built in the 1950s and 1960s — before strict environmental regulations were put in place, he added.
   Mr. Guhl said the priority ought to be purchasing houses closest to the creek. The houses that are purchased will be demolished and the land will become open space, he said.
   Once the township has the money in hand, officials will contact the property owners and offer to purchase their homes, he said. The owners are not obligated to sell, nor will the township exercise its right of eminent domain to purchase them, he added.
   "I hope this is the first of a number of grants," Mr. Guhl said. "I would hope to acquire three or four properties with this grant, and those three or four properties won’t flood again. We are doing it because it is the right thing to do. There is a problem, we know what it is and we are trying to solve it."