Flood prevention for Livingston Manor? The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers has a plan

Posted 8/21/12

LIVINGSTON MANOR, NY — Livingston Manor, which sits at the confluence of the Willowemoc Creek, the Little Beaver Kill River and Cattail Creek, has regularly been hit with flooding since the end of …

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Flood prevention for Livingston Manor? The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers has a plan

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LIVINGSTON MANOR, NY — Livingston Manor, which sits at the confluence of the Willowemoc Creek, the Little Beaver Kill River and Cattail Creek, has regularly been hit with flooding since the end of the 19th Century. In the early part of the 21st century, the town was hit hard multiple times, especially in 2004, 2005 and 2006, when it seemed that flooding was going to be an annual occurrence.

That’s the period during which 15-year-old Jamie Bertholf was swept downstream when raging floodwaters destroyed her home. It’s also when former Congressman Maurice Hinchey called for a study about what might be done to reduce the damage from flooding in the tiny hamlet.

Now, a decade later, on March 31, the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers (USACE) has released a “draft feasibility report on the investigation of flood risk management and ecosystem restoration in Livingston Manor.”

USACE, in conjunction with the New York Department of Environmental Conservation (DEC), studied a number of alternatives, and keeping limited budgets and multiple other factors in mind, came up with a recommendation that they called Plan J.

Plan J calls for the “widening of the Little Beaver Kill at the Main St. Bridge, installing a 4 x 10 ft. box culvert at the Main Street Bridge, and stabilizing one mile of stream upstream from the Main Street Bridge to the old airport site. This plan has measurable flood-damage reduction benefits, as well as incidental benefits to the riparian buffer.”

The placement of the box culvert next to the Main Street Bridge would not have been practical in the past because the property where the culvert would be placed was the home of the Hoos Building, owned by the late Barry Foster. But it burned down in 2012.

USACE says the plan not only provides flood-risk mitigation for the town, but it also is “done in a manner that is compatible with a trout stream,” which should be welcomed by the residents because trout fishing is an important part of the local economy.

The total cost of the project would be about $8.2 million, and a press release from USACE says, “After input from the public and other agencies, the project will move into the design and build phase, which is subject to the availability of funding. The cost of the project would be shared on a 65/35% basis between the federal government and the non-federal partner, DEC.” USACE says the plan has strong local support.

Also from the release, “The report is the result of a lengthy study conducted by the Army Corps and cost-shared with DEC. Other key partners on the study were Sullivan County, Open Space Institute, and the Town of Rockland.”

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