By Stephen Appezzato
HIGHLANDS – Following a November referendum in which residents overwhelmingly voted against the proposed Army Corps of Engineers Coastal Storm Risk Management Project, the borough council formally rejected the floodwall project at its Dec. 18 meeting.
According to Mayor Carolyn Broullon, when the project resurfaced in 2017, the borough council promised residents they would have a say in whether or not to accept plan, before any municipal tax dollars were spent on it.
“As I’m the last person from that council that is still on council, I wanted to make good on that promise. So that’s why we put it out to a vote,” Broullon said. “It was voted down by 86% of the electorate, which is a huge number.”
A proposed plan to alleviate Highlands’ flooding problems has been discussed since the 1990s, as local and federal governments sought ways to combat historic flooding issues. Interest in the project was rekindled in recent years, and in May, members from the Army Corps of Engineers presented an initial plan to the borough.
The $130 million proposal included approximately 10,000 linear feet of flood wall boarding the borough’s waterfront, as well as other flood management infrastructure.
With a deadline to support the project and enter into an agreement with the state Department of Environmental Protection soon approaching, “We decided collectively that we were not going to ignore the voices of the people,” Broullon said. “That is why we made this resolution, so that we could answer (the DEP) and say that no, we’re not going to do the things that they’ve asked us to do because we are going to listen to our residents.”
Broullon noted it’s not common for a local government to decline to enter into partnership with the federal and state governments, “but when such a huge mandate of the electorate had said that they don’t want any part of it, we are going to respectfully say no.”
In response to the initial presentation of the project, many residents voiced concerns related to eminent domain and the impact on tourism, business and wildlife.
Within the language of the new resolution, the borough also encouraged the Army Corps of Engineers to propose alternative solutions to reduce the impact of flooding in the borough.
The article originally appeared in the January 2 – 8, 2025 print edition of The Two River Times.
