By Chris Rotolo
HIGHLANDS – The transformation of a local ball field into a massive stormwater retention center is a linchpin element in the borough’s proposal to mitigate nuisance flooding on residential roadways.
During an Oct. 19 public hearing and presentation of the Highlands and Monmouth Hills Flood Mitigation Project, representatives of the Red Bank firm Colliers Engineering introduced a $15 million infrastructure improvement plan that would address the low-lying municipality’s stormwater woes from the top down.
Ted Wilkinson, Colliers Engineering senior project manager, connected the dots from Highlands’ high-frequency flood areas – from Snug Harbor Park to Veterans Park – to the 45 acres of land situated above the borough in the Monmouth Hills section of Middletown Township.
“Over the last eight months, part of our focus has been to identify the true root cause of the problem, and that is that you can’t have 45 acres of land draining down from Monmouth Hills with the impacted communities dependent upon limited infrastructure,” Wilkinson said.
The Monmouth Hills section of neighboring Middletown was originally established in 1895, when a group of New York City-based architects and engineers acquired the land and developed a summer-living community named the Water Witch Park and Club. The first clubhouse was constructed in 1897, but approximately three decades later when the Great Depression left many members, and much of the country, in financial disrepair, most of the clubhouses were either sold or winterized to be utilized as full-time residences.
However, what the original developers – the Highlands of Navesink Improvement Company – and subsequent development teams failed to fully address was stormwater mitigation. The rotten fruits of that inaction are experienced firsthand by motorists traveling south along the Route 36 corridor toward Sandy Hook, when mud-brown rainwater runoff accumulates beyond the right field fence of Kavookjian Field.
According to Wilkinson, part of the application the State of New Jersey will submit to FEMA on behalf of Highlands will include plans to turn the ball field and soccer pitch into a retention basin capable of collecting 2.5 million gallons of rainwater.
“If we were to receive the funding, this retention basin can handle the excessively heavy rainfall that occurs two or three times a year, and instead of the overflow running across the state highway and impeding a crucial coastal evacuation route, before flooding down into the borough, it would all be contained in the park,” Wilkinson said.
Currently the park is used by Henry Hudson Regional High School as a home field for the Admirals’ junior varsity baseball and soccer teams. If the grant application were to be accepted, Highlands Mayor Carolyn Brullon said the borough would work with the school district to navigate a solution for the displaced athletics programs. And Wilkinson noted that any displacement would be a short-term discomfort.
“We will be able to rebuild that baseball and soccer field and make it just as efficient for those uses as it is now. At the end of the day the field may end up being 10-15 feet shallower, but this is a key part of the proposal, and something we have to do for the good of the entire community. This field is the land that is available to meet the community’s vision and needs,” Wilkinson said.
Once the stormwater runoff is contained up the hill, Wilkinson would set his sights on necessary infrastructure improvements below. The second focal point of the proposed improvements project is the development of a pump station at the corner of Snug Harbor and Bay avenues.
Currently, a drainage canal separates Snug Harbor Avenue from a skate park, basketball courts and community center. The canal empties into the Shrewsbury River, but Wilkinson said much of the canal is filled with silt, impeding proper drainage and leading to overflow into nearby roadways and residential properties.
Wilkinson displayed plans for the construction of a two-story station. The first floor would be a concrete block with flood vents built 18 feet above submerged pumping mechanisms. The second story would include electrical infrastructure and a generator to power the station. Wilkinson said the generator would be natural gas powered, allowing it to remain operational during a storm that may impact the borough’s electrical grid.
“The pump station would be built as a standing structure, meaning their architectural designs to ensure it fits in with style of the community. Our goal is to ensure that it would look like just another residence,” said Wilkinson, who noted that the submerged pumps would allow the borough to fill in the existing canal and cover it up with green infrastructure, like patches of grass and perennial vegetation.
Alizar Zorojew, Collier Engineering grant manager, explained that if FEMA were to accept the application, the organization would fund 75 percent of the project, leaving borough residents responsible for the remaining $3.75 million.
“We are working through an understanding with Monmouth Hills and Middletown Township to assist with the (outstanding balance) as well as the maintenance costs of the proposed infrastructure,” Zorojew said.
FEMA is accepting applications through Nov. 18 for its 2022 Building Resilient Infrastructure and Communities (BRIC) Program and has an available funding pool of $2.13 billion.
In other flood mitigation news, at a press conference at the Port Monmouth Firehouse, Oct. 28, on the 10th anniversary of Super Storm Sandy, Middletown Mayor Tony Perry commended the U.S. Army Corps’ Port Monmouth Flood Control Project as it nears completion. Perry, along with mayors from the Bayshore communities impacted by Sandy, Monmouth County Sheriff Shaun Golden and County Commissioner Director Tom Arnone, discussed the devastating impact of Sandy, and collectively acknowledged the first responders who helped rebuild communities through years. The Port Monmouth Flood Mitigation Project, which Perry said “will prevent future flooding in the township’s most vulnerable neighborhoods,” was part of the recovery plans supported by federal grants.
According to the fall edition of Middletown Matters, the township’s newsletter, the Port Monmouth Flood Mitigation Project has completed four of its five contract phases which include beach and dune replenishment and the construction of a jetty, levee, floodwall, pump station and tide gate, road closure gate, and the regrading of Route 36. The New Jersey Department of Environmental Protection will handle the continued operation and maintenance of the project.
The fifth contract was awarded in September and work will soon begin on the Compton’s Creek side of the project. Property surveys, appraisals, permits and easement acquisitions are currently underway to allow the construction of a floodwall and levee system along Route 36, Creek Road, and Main Street. Also included is the construction of a levee, floodwall, elevation of a portion of Port Monmouth Road, installation of road closure gates on Broadway and Campbell avenues, and construction of a pumping station on Main Street, across from Renfrew Place. Construction is scheduled to be completed by 2025.
The article originally appeared in the November 3 – 9, 2022 print edition of The Two River Times.
