Even despite a more stringent review process from the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, a $75 million flood project drew lingering concerns from the village Harbor and Coastal Zone Management Commission, who deemed the project “potentially consistent” last week.
At a meeting on Wednesday, July 20, the commission—who was asked by the Department of State to help determine whether or not the project complies with the village’s Local Waterfront Revitalization Program, LWRP—found that the project still contradicts a portion of its waterfront policy.
“The [harbor commission] determined unanimously there were seven policies in the LWRP that were potentially consistent if certain attributes we modified or changed,” commission member Clark Neuringer said. “At this point, they could not be considered consistent.”
Among the major concerns identified by both the harbor commission and consultants hired by the village to evaluate the newest iteration of the project was its impact on the surrounding environment.
An analysis by hydrologist Paul Rubin—a consultant hired by members of the harbor commission to help assess the project—stated, “As planned, [the] project design will degrade aquatic ecosystems, wildlife habitat, water quality, and fishing and recreational opportunities while diminishing river access….”
Cindy Goldstein, chairwoman of the harbor commission, said that these concerns could be addressed by considering alternative methods of flood mitigation that rely less heavily on structural engineering.
“A major concern of the whole project was that alternatives that would not be so potentially damaging to the environment are available,” she said. “Those alternatives weren’t investigated by the Army Corps to the extent they should have been.”
While members of the harbor commission have shown reservations about the flood plan, members of the Army Corps have expressed concerns of their own; namely worries that opposition may put a stop to the project once and for all.
Gene Brickman, deputy chief of the Army Corps’ planning division,—who has also worked on a previous iteration of the flood mitigation project in the ‘80s—spoke to a full audience at the commission meeting.
“The only thing that’s going to stop this project is you,” he said, addressing residents in attendance.
In the ‘80s, a similar project was nixed due to funding concerns and a lack of governmental support.
Similarly, Mayor Norman Rosenblum, a Republican, has advocated for the federal project since its inception.
On Monday, the village Board of Trustees adopted a resolution showing its support for the project. “We want to tell the [Department of State] that the village of Mamaroneck is fully behind this project,” he said.
Previously in March, the harbor commission, a volunteer organization responsible for reviewing projects that fall within the scope of the LWRP, concluded that the project did not meet the village’s standards for waterfront development.
As a result, the commission issued a recommendation to the Department of State —which is responsible for conducting the project’s final environmental review—stating it should deem the project unsuitable to move forward. The Department of State agreed with the commission and blocked the project from moving forward, a move which necessitated a second—more LWRP compliant—draft of the project from the Corps.
The project, which must still be approved by Congress before it comes to fruition, aims to mitigate a long and destructive history of serious flooding in Mamaroneck.
According to initial projections, the project, using a combination of widening and deepening channels of the Mamaroneck and Sheldrake rivers and the construction of approximately 7,500 feet of retaining wall, could reduce first-floor flooding in the village by as much as 86 percent.
Funding for the project would be split between federal, state, and local sources, with federal funding constituting a majority, $45 million, of the $75 million needed.
Goldstein told the Review that the harbor commission will now send a letter of recommendation, stating that the project is still partially incompliant with the village’s LWRP, to the Department of State as early as next week.
The state department will then have 60 days to review the Army Corps’ newest submission and issue its own determination, and if found inconsistent, the Corps will be forced to tinker with the project until its deemed compliant.
