Somehow I missed this Advocate article Tuesday morning. The idea of the flood erosion control board out of Sunday’s debate spawned a new tributary of campaign rhetoric. First the Tim Stelloh article:
With flooding a central issue in the campaign, a suggestion raised by Democratic Common Council nominee Gail Wall at Sunday’s debate is for the city to resurrect the Flood and Erosion Control Board.
Wall said such a board - which she called vital to fixing Norwalk’s flooding problems - would allow the city to apply for state Department of Environmental Protection funds.
Wall’s suggestion became political when she said the board languished under Republican Mayor Richard Moccia, who failed to re-appoint members.
Moccia said yesterday that the board has not met in 30 years, it does not deal with stormwater issues and it was not given any powers under the 1956 city ordinance creating it.
“If you look at the statute, it simply addresses how appointments are made,” he said. “There were no duties assigned to it. . . . I wanted to make it clear - this is not a board that will deal with local flooding.”
This point was echoed by Frank Favano, a former board member. In his 11 years on the city Planning Commission - which the Flood and Erosion Control Board was a part of - there was not one board meeting, he said.
The city statute creating the board was adopted from state law and describes the board appointment process, what should happen in the event of a board vacancy and how many members are needed to vote.
The state statute governing municipal flood and erosion boards is broader, giving them the ability to issue bonds, to seize property through eminent domain and to repair flood-prone areas with ditches, water storage areas, drains, tide gates and other “flood and erosion control systems.”
It also allows the board to tax property owners who may benefit from such remedies - a provision criticized by Moccia and Republican Common Council member Douglas Hempstead at the debate.
In Westport, Flood and Erosion Board members investigate how to fix flood-prone areas. The board also provides a public forum, according to Deputy Town Engineer Peter Ratkiewich. Usually, the board prioritizes projects by measuring likely success, he said. And it has never taxed individual property owners.
“That’s a political football. A board that’s appointed is not unilateral in its decision-making,” he said. “To the best of my knowledge, in Westport it hasn’t been done. That type of assessment becomes a capital improvement project.”
The board can also apply for state funds.
Denise Ruzicka, the state Department of Environmental Protection’s director of inland water resources, said the state will typically pay one-third of costs for projects that meet a “broad public good” - such as building stormwater basins, acquiring private dams or controlling erosion in streams.
In the deep recesses of the turf-brain, a glimmer of recognition. Why was this all so familiar?
A resident from Westport mentioned that Westport has had stream improvement program for the last 15 years cleaned out culverts and dredged streams. Westport replaced culverts. As an example, 19,000 cubic yards of silt in Nash’s pond was removed about 12 years ago.
According to the guy from DEP, construction sites are major contributor to silt problems, and that could be a contributing factor. He also mentioned that there exists a state regulation from the era of the ‘55 flood, that allows municipalities to create flood erosion control boards and that is how the transfer of funds from the state to the municipality for flood control issues. According to Diane Lauricella, Norwalk has one that has not met for many years. Westport has a board that meets monthly. The DEP can only fund a flood control project which has environmental impact.
The meeting concluded with some short term goals outlined that included; get rid of blockages in the streams, expand the bridges, get flood control board together.
Well then, that clears that up. The CT DEP will give municipalities money for flood control measures, but they need the board to transfer the funds to. Hal Alvord was there at this meeting and apaprently didn’t relay the results to anyone else. The statute doesn’t indicate anything about the board, but then its the DEP that controls the money. Following all of this?
The town of Fairfield, btw, got money for their flood control measures which they managed to implement in the month after the April floods. In Norwalk, we are still just discussing the same old issues.
source: Advocate, Flooding becomes hot campaign topic Parties debate restoring board, By Tim Stelloh, October 30 2007
Please read all regulations.
