MANVILLE: Flood study still two years away

$3.6 million needed to complete study begun in 2002

By Gene Robbins, Managing Editor
   Three days before Feb. 2, it was almost like Groundhog Day for the Raritan-Millstone Flood Control Commission.
   At one of the body’s first meetings a year ago, David Gentile of Army Corps of Engineers was asked when its study, begun in 2002, on past and future flooding in the Raritan and Millstone rivers basin would be completed.
   He said late 2014 or early 2015.
   Jan. 30, Mr. Gentile, the project manager for the study, was asked the same question.
   With unlimited funding, it’s now November 2015, he answered.
   However, by May the Army Corps should have three alternatives drawn, Mr. Gentile said.
   Each will be subjected to a benefit-cost review, which should be done by late June, he said. Those conclusions should give a good idea of the direction the study is going, he said, and whether federal money could be used.
   After discussion charrettes, the Corps should present a tentative plan in the fourth quarter of 2013, Mr. Gentile said. The Corps has funding for work through that point, he said.
   Commission Chairman Frank Jurewicz, observed that, if $3.6 million of the original $8 million cost hasn’t been funded, the study is in the 11th year and still needs almost one-half the money.
   Mr. Gentile estimated the study was perhaps one-third done. Even with unlimited funds, the work couldn’t go much faster, he said. Documents need to be drawn, and checklist tasks completed, he said.
   Commissioners are planning to ramp up talks and pressure on state and federal representatives to lobby for money. Mr. Jurewicz pressed for a timeline the commission could hang its hat on.
   Vice Chairman Edward Zimmerman, of Rocky Hill, emphasized the need to know how much was needed so the commissioners could make stronger arguments with representatives.
   ”It’s hard for us to know we didn’t meet a target if we didn’t have a target to meet,” Mr. Jurewicz said.
   Mr. Gentile said he couldn’t share information with the commission directly until a written report was done in November, he said, but he will send it to the state Department of Environmental Protection, the Corps’ non-federal sponsor.
   ”Maybe you can get it through them,” he said.
   Mr. Zimmerman asked if the Corps will receive a piece of the $50 billion in Superstorm Sandy aid recently passed by Congress. Mr. Gentile said the Corps needs to see the bill’s language.
   At the reorganization portion of the meeting, Manville’s Jurewicz was re-elected chairman with Mr. Zimmerman as co-chairman.
   The commission will meet next at 7 p.m. Wednesday, Feb. 27, in the Franklin Township Municipal Building.
   After a Saturday, March 16, information fair at Raritan Valley Community College, the commission is scheduled to hear from emergency management professionals April 24 in Manville.
   The May 22 meeting will be held in Hillsborough, and a walking tour of the river area of Millstone is scheduled for June 26.