Sea Isle's first stormwater pumping station, at the bay end of 38th Street, is one of the ways the city is fighting flooding.
By DONALD WITTKOWSKI
Sea Isle City is looking to build its second pumping station as it considers new ways to protect the low-lying barrier island from flooding.
The next area to get a pumping station is likely to be a flood-prone neighborhood generally between 43rd and 45th streets from Landis Avenue to the bay, a city official said.
Sea Isle is hoping to secure a grant through the Federal Emergency Management Agency to help pay for the estimated $2 million project.
City Business Administrator George Savastano said the federal funding would cover 75 percent of the cost and Sea Isle would kick in the remaining 25 percent under the terms of the grant.
On Tuesday, City Council hired the Millville-based consulting firm Salmon Ventures to prepare the FEMA grant application. Savastano told Council that up to $4 million in FEMA grant money is available.
Salmon Ventures is headed by Edward H. Salmon, a former South Jersey assemblyman and former president of the state Board of Public Utilities. His firm specializes in governmental and regulatory consulting services for utilities, government, businesses and education institutions.
Sea Isle will pay Salmon Ventures $50,000 to represent it before FEMA. Savastano said the company will perform a “significant” amount of work to prepare the grant application and steer it through the state Office of Emergency Management and FEMA.
In September, Sea Isle completed its first pumping station, in the flood-plagued bayfront neighborhood of Sounds Avenue and 38th Street. The project cost about $800,000.
The second pumping station proposed for the area between 43rd and 45th streets between Landis Avenue and the bay would be a bigger project covering a larger swath of Sea Isle.
Sea Isle City, a low-lying barrier island town, is vulnerable to coastal flooding.
An engineering study conducted last year for Sea Isle recommended a total of 10 pumping stations located throughout town to protect the city from flooding.
Pumping stations intercept floodwater and channel it back into the bay much faster than it would normally take to drain off the streets after a coastal storm. As effective as pumping stations may be, they are expensive and require room to build them, though.
Pumping stations already are being used with success in a number of neighboring shore towns, including Ocean City and Avalon.
Eight of the 10 areas recommended for pumping stations in Sea Isle are tied into Cape May County’s drainage network. That raises the possibility of funding partnerships between Sea Isle and the county to build the projects, city engineer Andrew Previti explained in a September interview.
Previti acknowledged that Sea Isle will never be completely immune from flooding, no matter how much money it spends and how many projects it builds over the years. The idea is to target areas of the city that are most vulnerable to stormwater to reduce the flooding problem, particularly along the bayfront, he said.
“If you have a major flooding event, it will get the water out much quicker,” Previti said of pumping stations in the September interview.
The pumping station at 38th Street and Sounds Avenue has been combined with other measures to protect the neighborhood, including better drainage systems and a rock wall that is designed to prevent stormwater from rushing in from the surrounding marshlands.
The neighborhood will serve as a model for how the city government intends to protect the entire island from coastal storms in years to come.
City Engineer Andrew Previti looks at a large pipe that dumps floodwater back into the bay after it is collected by the pumping station at 38th Street and Sounds Avenue.
The three pumps comprising the station at 38th and Sounds are located under the street, completely out of view from homeowners. An 18-foot-deep hole was dug for the pumping station’s chamber and is now covered with asphalt.
Other than a large drainage pipe that feeds floodwater into the bay, the only major thing that is visible of the pumping station is a box-like electrical panel mounted on an elevated platform that resembles a staircase. The panel contains the controls for the pumping station and is located well above any floodwaters.
