By Donald Wittkowski
A run-of-the-mill rainstorm Tuesday that left some streets covered with puddles of water prompted the latest round of debate over Sea Isle City’s efforts to reduce flooding.
Local restaurant owner Mike Monichetti appeared before City Council to urge the governing body to take action before flooding gets even worse on the low-lying barrier island.
Monichetti said the city should be aggressively seeking grant money, as well as setting aside its own funding, to finance major flood-control projects that will cost millions of dollars.
“This is our No. 1 priority in the city of Sea Isle,” he told Council.
In response, the Council members assured Monichetti that they recognize the seriousness of the problem and are moving ahead with a comprehensive strategy to alleviate flooding.
“Have we given you any indication that’s not our No. 1 priority?” Council President Mary Tighe pointedly asked Monichetti.
Monichetti said he believes Tighe, but he complained that even during nuisance rainstorms, like the one Tuesday, Sea Isle’s streets are swamped with flood water.
“In a rainstorm, I’ve got to go through a foot and a half of water to get here,” said Monichetti, the owner of Mike’s Seafood & Dock Restaurant on Park Road. “This is a serious, serious problem.”
Tighe went on to describe new drainage pipes, pumping stations and other flood-control projects that the city has proposed in its five-year capital plan. She stressed that the capital plan reflects the city’s commitment to fight flooding.
“Hopefully, that is the solution. We’ll see if it works,” Tighe said.
Both Tighe and Councilman Frank Edwardi noted that it will take time for the city to build all of the projects.
“Unfortunately, it’s a slow process,” Tighe said.
Edwardi pointed out that the city has already been working on the flooding problem for about 10 years.
“It’s not a problem we’re going to fix overnight,” Edwardi told Monichetti. “We’re doing the best we can.”
Monichetti, who has lived in Sea Isle for more than 60 years, believes flooding is reaching the crisis stage and poses a serious threat to the livelihood of the tourist-dependent beach town. He has repeatedly appeared before Council in the past two years to call for action.
“The water is a serious issue, and it’s only going to get worse moving forward,” he said at Tuesday’s meeting.
Monichetti also said the city should begin “stockpiling money” immediately to prepare for the enormous cost of major flood-mitigation projects. In addition, he believes Sea Isle should make every effort to secure state and federal grants to help pay for construction of those projects.
“I just don’t want Sea Isle to be left out,” he said of the grants.
The city is in the midst of a major flood study scheduled to be finished this year. It is expected to be a sweeping analysis of Sea Isle’s most flood-prone areas as well as what can be done to protect them from raging ocean waters and the overflowing back bays.
Sea Isle’s updated master plan, which is awaiting final details of the city’s affordable housing obligations with the state to be incorporated before it is adopted, also focuses on the need for a comprehensive flood-control plan.
City officials have been warning residents that will take a huge amount of money to build an integrated flood-control network, including better drainage systems, new pumping stations, dikes and road improvements.
Andrew Previti, the city engineer, has said the flooding study should look at flooding from a broader, regional perspective rather than just limiting it to Sea Isle because that would open up the possibility of securing more public funding to fight the problem.
Sea Isle is vulnerable to flooding even during moderate rainstorms, let alone the powerful nor’easters that are relatively common at the Jersey Shore.
Some flood-control initiatives are underway or have already been completed, such as the city’s beach and dune replenishment projects.
In other business at Tuesday’s Council meeting, Business Administrator George Savastano said a consultant has prepared some concepts for converting the former Sea Isle City Public School into a community recreation center.
Those concepts will be discussed privately next week with a mayor’s committee studying the project, followed by a public presentation sometime in February or March, city officials said.
The school closed in 2012 due to declining student enrollment. Since then, there has been debate over whether to renovate the existing school site or build an entirely new complex for recreation.
The city’s capital plan proposes spending $1.3 million in 2018 to begin the renovation or redevelopment of the school into a community recreation center. The entire project, though, is expected to cost much more than $1.3 million, depending on the scope of construction.
