Residents say nearby development has worsened the problem.
By: Courtney Gross
In its first meeting since a tour of the flood-prone neighborhood near Harry’s Brook in September, the Princeton Township Flood and Stormwater Management Committee met Thursday afternoon to discuss possible solutions to the erosion and saturation that has recently plagued residents there.
Area residents, who have lobbied for stricter regulations regarding single-family homes and runoff, have said increased development has raised the water level of their neighborhood’s meandering brook water that has seeped into their basements and created pools in their backyards.
But at Thursday’s meeting, the township’s stormwater consultant, Joseph Skupien, said he could not necessarily attribute the recent flooding within the area near 80 Random Road to increased development.
Although stormwater from as far away as Witherspoon Street in Princeton Borough drains into the area, Mr. Skupien said, new development has not occurred within the surrounding neighborhood in recent years to connect the flooding with increased impervious surface a characteristic of some flood plains.
For flooding Mr. Skupien has seen in the past, "there seems to be a 20- or 30-year cycle. But, nobody can prove it," he said.
The committee recognized that rainfall has risen within the past three decades, which could be the cause of the increased flooding at Harry’s Brook. The long-term average for rainfall from 1895 to 2005 is 42.03 inches per year. But, committee members said, the average from 1971 to 2000 was 42.92 inches per year.
Because of the random nature of floods, the consultant added, it is difficult to tie their origin to any one cause. In the case of Harry’s Brook, he added, the township’s challenge to keep flooding at a standstill, then reduce its impact, is even more difficult without determining blame.
"Things are random," Mr. Skupien explained to the committee Thursday. "It could rain for three years and then there is a drought."
But no matter what the cause, some residents will not quit until it is solved.
A resident of Random Road for 32 years, Olivia Applegate has led residents concerned about the flooding to bring it to the township’s attention. Ms. Applegate said much of her land is unusable, having been saturated by rainfall and runoff from upstream.
"This area’s used as a detention basin not intentionally, but that’s what it is," Ms. Applegate said.
A large concern of the area’s residents, Ms. Applegate said, is the erosion occurring along the brook’s banks that has taken down trees and increased the possibility of more flooding.
Part of the problem, township officials said, is the most recent survey of the brook’s cross-sections was from the early 1970s. To address the issue and to determine the extent of the erosion, Township Engineer Robert Kiser said the group would survey the brook’s banks this month. The survey could reveal whether a large amount of sediment has been eroded, township officials said.
Although township officials recognized the neighborhood is suffering from a flooding issue, Mr. Kiser said it is not yet apparent who is responsible for funding its solution. Funding from the Federal Emergency Management Agency, which usually covers the cost of damage, does not apply to stream restoration, Mr. Kiser said.
Members of the committee and township officials said they tentatively plan to meet in January to further discuss the flooding at Harry’s Brook and to analyze its upcoming survey.

