Fair Lawn Purchasing Flood-Prone Home

The Fair Lawn Council voted to purchase a flood-prone property on Second Street during their last meeting.

The house, which sits just north of the Passaic River, floods with almost "any type of rain," according to Deputy Mayor Ed Trawinski. 

The borough will pay $292,000 for the property with open space funds on an "at-risk basis," meaning that the state's Green Acres program may or may not reimburse them with a matching grant. 

Whether or not Green Acres will come through depends on the results of environmental tests at the property. Initially, it had seemed that the borough would not be reimbursed because pollution from Paterson's sewers in the Passaic River could have contaminated the property. Officials then decided to go ahead with the at-risk purchase after a preliminary report indicated the property was likely clean.

The homeowners, Jeff and Barbara Dube, have been working with officials to get a buy-out for years since repeated floods have made the home "unlivable."

"The Dubes have been incredibly patient," Trawinski said.

The borough will likely finish closing on the property in the next six weeks, according to Trawinski. Once they do, the house will be demolished and the property will never be developed again.

The property could become part of a future "river walk," for which the borough has already acquired several other properties, Trawinski said. The Second Avenue property would be near the southern end of the walk.

The Dubes could not immediately be reached for comment.