Letter To The Editor: Hampshire Plans Take Flooding Into Account

Regarding "Hampshire Engineer Leaves Out Some Facts" (letter, June 27), Celia Felsher takes issue with the thorough professional assessment of the Residences at Hampshire site by my engineering firm, which is supported by the Village's own experts. I will take her objections point by point.

With respect to traffic access to the property during a storm, Ms. Felsher is wrong to say that Cooper Avenue would be the development’s only available ingress and egress. There are three roads leading to the property, all of which would be open for vehicles to enter and leave the site as a major storm approaches. Furthermore, as has been the case with the current Orienta neighborhood during past events such as Hurricane Sandy, the Village would issue an evacuation order before any storm makes landfall; that is, prior to any flooding. As such, the residents would be able to evacuate the area prior to the flood event. By the time any flooding occurs, emergency access to the site would be available in the event that for an unforeseen reason someone cannot evacuate and requires aid. Indeed, that is why the Village has relied on advance evacuations in the past during major storms. Ms. Felsher's imagined nightmare sequence of events where all roads leading out of the neighborhood are jammed with two-way traffic is just not realistic.

SEE ALSO: Hampshire Engineer Leaves Out Some Facts

In addition, to make her point Ms. Felsher must exaggerate significantly the risk of Cooper Avenue becoming inundated with flood waters. The 1-foot flood condition she cites would occur during the estimated absolute worst-case peak level for the year 2070 (51 years from now) based on projected sea rise. Even if this projected scenario were to occur, the flood water would rise to 1 foot on a small portion of Cooper Avenue for only a short period of time during high tide. As soon as the high tide began to recede (typically within a couple of hours), the flood water would lower and subsequently clear. Thus, the road would remain passable, even during a storm, once high tide begins to subside. Again, the nightmare scenario she suggests is simply not supported by science.

Similarly, the "bathtub effect" Ms. Felsher refers to applies only to water levels below 6 feet above sea level. Water above that elevation overtops Eagle Knolls Road. During a flood event — that is, between 6 and 12 feet above sea level — water moves freely from Long Island Sound via Delancey Cove, the Hommocks marsh and the Cove Road neighborhood in and out of the site. Water below 6 feet, as the flood recedes, will drain by gravity out through the tide gates as they do today.

Finally, the claim that we have not taken into account storms on the order of Hurricane Irene, Superstorm Sandy and others is simply not true. The draft FEIS data, vetted and accepted by the Village's own engineers, demonstrates that if a 100-year rain event occurred, all rainwater could be contained in the lower portions of the site. If one considers a rational worst-case scenario, assuming that the flood gates are closed, not allowing discharge, a 100-year rain event would result in runoff accumulating only to 5 feet above sea level, far below the proposed road elevation of 14 feet and building elevation of 16 feet.

As I said in my original letter, all of this information is readily available to the public on the Village of Mamaroneck's website, where the people of the Village can see for themselves that everyone involved in the planning of The Residences at Hampshire has taken great care to see that people are prepared for a flood. Ms. Felsher does her neighbors and the Village a disservice by muddying the waters with accusations of "patterns of omission" that just don't exist. We look forward to completing the SEQRA review process, confident in the knowledge that our data show that the homeowners in and around The Residences at Hampshire are able to live safely with their neighbors in a flood-sound area.

Michael Junghans, PE
Kimley-Horn of New York, PC