Finally, Residents In Port Monmounth To See Relief From Flooding

Well it's taken over 30 years for residents in the Port Monmouth section of Middletown to get some much needed action to the flooding problem that exists around the Wilson Ave/ Broadway/Renfrew Place/Pew's creek section of town, but at last there is relief coming to their neighborhood.

Thanks to efforts of Committeeman Patrick Short and many area residents who have attended township committee meeting over the past few months, the township committee has finally decided to take action against the massive flooding problems in Port Monmouth themselves instead of waiting for the Army Corp of Engineers to come up with $55 million dollars to do it for them.

Middletown's engineer, Ted Maloney has come up with a 3 phase plan to alleviate the flooding at a fraction of the cost, which is estimated to be $1.1 million.

According to an article in yesterdays Asbury Park Press:

"The $77,040 first phase involves building a foot-tall berm along Wilson Avenue, cleaning and repairing all existing pipes, and installing a slide gate, Maloney said. The gate would open during low tide to allow water to seep out of the neighborhood, and close during high tide to keep out water from Pew's Creek and Raritan Bay, he said.

The $750,000 second phase would add a pump station to help get water out of the neighborhood, a drainage pipe for the water to flow through and a generator to power the system in the event of an outage, according to township documents.

The $315,000 third phase would replace existing pipes and create an underground location for water to settle before draining into the creek, according to township documents. If the first two phases work as planned, the third phase may not be necessary, Maloney said."

This is an excellent use of township tax dollars that should have gone to allieviating the flooding problem in Port Monmouth years ago. I know that the 80+ households that make up this flooded section of Port Monmouth are extremely happy that something is finally being done for them, instead of having their tax dollars wasted on frivously pet projects of former members of the township committee.