Hurley Hustling to Fix Flooding/ by Maya Schubert-Kingston Wire
The Hurley Town Board took emergency measures Tuesday to expedite a fix for flooding and septic problems several residents have been complaining about for years. At this week’s workshop meeting, the town board declared a broken stormwater pipe on Kemble Terrace an emergency, bypassing the bidding process for hiring a construction company to make repairs on Kemble and Orchard Street.
The emergency declaration grants the town engineer immediate access to properties on the street to review the problems and independently hire a construction company for temporary repairs.
Tuesday’s meeting saw drainage concerns brought forth by a dozen or so Hurley residents, a common occurrence for the hilly and bedrock-ridden town’s public comment periods. Among the speakers was Kemble Terrace resident David Wittek, who has attended board meetings regularly since April to demand updates on a drainage project for his street. In early April, Wittek said he received confirmation that the town was almost ready to issue a request for proposals for construction companies to bid on the project.
Since then, he said Tuesday, no progress on the project has been made, and last month it got worse: He began experiencing backup and sewage problems on his property due to a failed pipe.
“It is a detriment to my property and the health and well being of my entire family, young children included,” he said.
According to town officials, Kemble Terrace has experienced flooding for a decade or so. In 2014, the town sent letters to the street’s residents requesting access to their properties to check out the problems, but one property owner’s refusal to sign an easement put the project in limbo. By the time Wittek brought his flooding problems back to the board’s attention, the recalcitrant owner had moved and all Kemble Terrace residents were willing to sign new easements. A delay in the town receiving a state Department of Environmental Conservation wetlands permit, however, set the project further back yet again.
Wittek said at the beginning of September, Town Supervisor Melinda McKnight informed him that the board would present a resolution at the next meeting authorizing the project to go out to bid. He countered that the bidding process could drag into the fall and delay the repairs for another winter.
“Over three weeks from now … a resolution to go out to bid is not sufficient for this new problem,” Wittek said. “Immediate action needs to be taken.”
Hurley’s town code includes an exemption to the usual construction procurement process for emergencies. The board agreed the situation on Kemble Terrace was an emergency.
“We represent the people who live in the town, and people who live in the town are having a drainage fiasco,” said Councilperson Jana Martin. “We have to start somewhere, so we're kind of planting a flag in the ground here.”
On Tuesday evening, the board heard similar concerns from Orchard Street residents who said that runoff from Hillside Avenue was flooding their properties and, in the case of one family, backing up their septic.
“Water is flooding into my septic system faster than it can be pumped out,” said Nanine Funicello.
When toilets are flushed, she said, the septic water often comes out of a pipe at the back of the house, creating a mini cesspool in the backyard.
Funicello told Kingston Wire that the septic problems started in March, corroborating other Orchard Street property owners that claimed their flooding problems had started or worsened in the past few years. One resident said he had lived in the area for over 20 years and experienced flooding in his yard almost every spring. The land took months to absorb the water, he said, and added that he usually couldn’t even mow his lawn until late summer.
He theorized that the ditch created to collect runoff from Hillside had fallen into disrepair over decades, leaving the water to stream into nearby properties.
The board declared Funicello’s septic backup an emergency and said the town engineer would inspect the property for temporary solutions until the project could be dealt with thoroughly.
At the moment, Hurley has about a dozen drainage projects in the works.
“We can't fix everything all at one time, so it's a matter of prioritizing,” McKnight said. Turning to the meeting’s attendants, she said, “I'm sorry that it’s taken so long.”
McKnight added that she recently met with Ulster County Emergency Management about getting funding to upsize undersized culverts across the town to mitigate flooding.
“But understand, we're only at the beginning of that process,” she said, and added, “We're chipping away at it. I wish I had a magic wand."