Flood-Ravaged Residents Working with Borough to Obtain FEMA Funds

The borough's is working with flood-ravaged residents of 2nd Street on a letter of intent to seek mitigation funds from the Federal Emergency Management Agency.

When the Passaic River , it marked the fourth major flood in 10 years for the residents off Morlot Avenue, including five to six homes that were hit particularly hard. The best solution is for the government to buy out the homes, but since "there's not funding for that," the alternative is to seek relief from FEMA Declaration 1954 (see .PDF file attached at right), said Ira Marks, coordinator of emergency management for Fair Lawn.

Marks explained at Tuesday night's Borough Council worksession that by April 8, Fair Lawn's emergency management office must send a letter of intent to the state police—who double as New Jersey's Office of Emergency Management—detailing what flood relief project the borough intends to pursue, how many homes are involved, what the cost would be, and how much FEMA money was spent on previous floods in the area.

The funds could be used to raise area homes 3-5 feet and build sturdy foundations underneath them, since several of the homes are sinking, Marks said. If the state police approve the borough's letter of intent, Fair Lawn can apply directly to FEMA for Declaration 1954 funding, he said. The flooding issue near the Passaic River is "not a Fair Lawn problem," but rather a regional problem that can only be solved with federal dollars because the borough and state both do not have the funds.

"What we need is the governor to direct the state police to direct the mitigation funds to this project," Marks said.

"Otherwise, we're spinning our wheels and the town is limited in what it can do," he said.

A number of 2nd Street residents whose homes were flooded attended the council meeting, and gave Marks their contact information so that they can work with him on compiling the letter of intent to the state police. The Borough Council also plans to form a subcommittee to work on the flooding issue, to include two council members, several residents, Marks, Borough Engineer Ken Garrison, Borough Manager Tim Stafford, and Superintendent of Public Works Ron Conte.

Laure Wisse, who lives at 5-02 2nd St., said of area residents that "none of us are going to be able to sell our homes at this point." Wisse said that while municipalities such as Little Falls and Wayne have received widespread attention for flooding problems lately, that has not been the case for Fair Lawn residents who have been impacted by the same flooding.

"We don't want this to be pushed under the carpet, in a sense," Wisse said.

Barbara Dube of 4-50 2nd Street called the flooding a "mental nightmare" for residents who at one point thought they were safe.

"None of us can handle this time and time again, and no action is happening here," Dube said.

Dube's daughter, Sandra, said that everybody on 2nd Street "has it bad" with flooding, but "we have it the worst." After 18 inches of water found its way into the home during this past flood, the family was displaced, she said. There weren't similar flooding issues on 2nd Street during the 10-year period before the latest decade that saw four major floods, she noted, which is why a number of current residents bought homes in the flood zone to begin with.

When Deputy Mayor Steve Weinstein asked Marks what the Borough Council itself could do to help flood-ravaged residents in the fund-seeking process, Marks said "pray." Sandra Dube countered that remark, saying that "I need the people in this room to be working for the residents in this town." She said that if the local government bought out homes in danger on 2nd Street, the homeowners would reinvest in Fair Lawn by purchasing other homes in the borough.

"Please don't say that all you can do is pray," Sandra Dube said.

"For us, [the flooding is] a huge inconvenience. It takes months to rebuild [our homes]," she said.

Barbara Dube suggested that the borough use open space funds to remedy the situation. Weinstein said Fair Lawn's open space list does include a proposal to tie the homes on 2nd Street into a river walk, but that such as process will take time. The fact that the area has flooded four times "will help you get te money you need," Weinstein told the residents.

"The council has not been sitting back at all [on the flooding issue]," Weinstein said.

Garrison said Fair Lawn is "trying to do as much as we possibly can," and reiterated Marks' sentiment that the key will be putting pressure on the state—which in turn would help the borough gain access to federal funding. The flooding problem is a complex regional issue, he said.

"As much as everybody would like, I can't set up 15-foot high walls along the Passaic River," the borough engineer said.