White Plains CitizeNetReporter - The Flood Summit Blames Development; Building in Flood Plains for County Problem

WPCNR THE SEWER NEWS. Special to WPCNR from Paula Piekos. June 21, 2007: Wednesday was the day of the Westchester County-sponsored Flood Summit at the Westchester County Center. To sum it up, it seems there has been flooding in our area for many years, but the storm events are coming at more frequent intervals, and development is making it worse. It also seems that quite a few studies have been conducted, with the end results being remediation plans presented, but then not carried forth. The county recommended tighter controls on developments contributing to county regulated streams; a review and tighter regulations on proposed subdivisions, and a new flood control entity on storm water management. The Chiefs on the Spot at the County Center which was high and dry Wednesday. From left to right, David Kvinge, County Commissioner of Environmental Planning; 3rd from left, Mary Colvin, Chief of Community Mitigation Programs Branch, Mitigation Division, FEMA; 4th from left, Willian Nechamen, NYS DEC Chief, Flood Plain Management Section, Bureau of Program Resources & Flood Protection; 5th from left, Jodi McDonald, Chief, Rivers & Lakes Division, US Army Corps of Engineers; far right, Les Radfor, Recovery Manager, NYS Emergency Office.

County Planning Commissioner Gerry Mulligan, proposed DEC tighten regulations, controlling development contributing to streams in the county, a review of proposed subdivisions for storm water retention procedures and establishing a new regulatory entity on storm water management. Photos by Paula Piekos Gerry Mulligan, County Commissioner of Planning on a slide in the background recommended New York's Department of Environmental Conservation work with municipalities to tailor regulations to specifically address storm water management for flood control and flood damage reduction. He also recommended expanding jurisdiction, standards and requirements of the County Storm Control Law to control development within and contributing to regulated streams in the county. He recommended reviewing proposed subdivisions to incorporate storm water runoff management. In another strategy he recommending establishing a new "Flood Control Entity focusing on storm water management, flood mitigation, and related matters." . There also seems to be a pattern of flood events followed by activity in seeking remedies, but the remedies are not put in place. This was blamed due to running low on founds. Another generalization is that flooding is a natural event. The problem is not the flooding and flood plan, but building structures in its way. Most of the remediation work that has been carried out in our area has been along the Saw Mill River. Sewage issues were not addressed. We can just all hope that with all the money now pledged by the state and federal government, after all the studies are none, there is money left over to fix the problems and prevent them from happening again in the future, and that this will not take so much time that another storm event causes harm before this can happen. Andy Spano kicked off the presentations, and was followed by many speakers, accompanied by Powerpoint presentations about the history of flooding in the area. Among those on the dais: FEMA’s Mary Colvin, Chief, Community Mitigation Programs Branch Mitigation Division; William Nechaman NYS DEC Chief, Flood Plain Management Section, Bureau of Program Resources and Flood Protection; Jodi McDonald, Chief, Rivers & Lakes Division, U.S. Army Corps of Engineers; Les Radford, Recovery Manager, NYS Emergency Office; David Kvinge, County Commissioner of Environmental Planning; Gerry Mulligan,County Commissioner of Planning Nita Lowey had a representative. FEMA’s people spoke on flood plain management. County Planning Commissioner Mulligan and Gina D’Agrosa of the County Water Agency spoke about all of the government partnerships that will be involved in planning a strategy to prevent future flood damage and their roles in the situation. David Kvinge, County Director of Environmental Planning gave an informative talk about the history of flooding in our area. The issue of all the prior studies was dealt with by Gina D’Agrosa, Jodi MacDonald, and the Mayor of the City of Rye, Steve Otis. Speaking of Mayors, Mayor Triifeletti of Mamaroneck was there, and were heads of other municipalities, but I did not see Mayor Joseph Delfino in the crowd, though I was told Commissioner of Public Works, Joseph Nicoletti, his men Stan Johnson and Brian Murphy were there.


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