Message from Township Manager Al Mirabella | September 21, 2022

Dear Neighbor:

Scotch Plains residents know that many parts of our community flood during extreme weather events or flash flooding.  This occurs despite the Township’s efforts to regularly clear brooks and sewers so that water stays far from private property.  Substantial work, however, remains necessary to reduce the severity of flooding in Scotch Plains and the surrounding communities.

Those who think that flooding is a local issue that can be easily solved by using the municipal budget are incorrect. Even if Scotch Plains taxpayers spent millions of their own dollars to address flooding, as unfeasible as that is, there is no way to control how neighboring towns mitigate water in the brooks that flow in our direction.  Flooding, obviously, does not stop at municipal borders as the Green Brook and other waterways bisecting our town are part a regional problem requiring more county, state and federal intervention.

That is why Scotch Plains has been working closely with county, state and federal officials who have the ability to coordinate large, regional, comprehensive solutions. And rather than simply calling for local tax dollars be used for such major infrastructure work, these leaders have the ability to secure outside money to design and implement a final, comprehensive program.

Earlier this year, Scotch Plains hosted our congressman, Rep. Tom Malinowski, who toured areas of town where flooding has occurred. We showed how Scotch Plains floods from overrun culverts and stream channels that run generally north to south across the town (the Green Brook).  We also spoke of the damage of Hurricane Ida and other extreme weather events, in which the town floods in our east-central section, overflowing channels, brooks and ponds.

The congressman agreed that a direct response at the state and federal levels is needed for Scotch Plains and surrounding towns that deal with the Green Brook.  Earlier this year, Congressman Malinowski helped secure nearly half a billion dollars in disaster supplemental flooding to complete the Green Brook Sub Basin Flood Control Project, and brought home millions more through the bipartisan Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act. 

These accomplishments fund New Jersey's Gateway Program and water infrastructure projects so that New Jerseyans can finally see flood relief, after so many years of partisan inaction in Washington. Also, the federal Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act, adopted last November, will bring historic investment to our region, addressing flooding among such other pressing matters as roads, bridges and rail.

But, for those who deal with flooding every time it rains, we can’t wait for this federal initiative project as the “solution.” We need to continually leverage support from our partners at all levels of government to fund regional projects.

I am pleased, for example, that Union County has stepped in on one major project in our town, as the Green Brook often floods by Scotch Plains Park in the Watchung Reservation near the McDonald’s on Route 22 west.

Workers are now rebuilding the rock channel along the eastern branch of the Green Brook which flows down Union Avenue and can flood the highway during major rains. The county awarded $439,105 for stream bank stabilization to control the water flow, as well as to rebuild a wall of historical value that the Works Progress Administration built in 1936. We expect the project to be completed by October 17 – without using a nickel of the municipal budget.

We are also directing more municipal staff to continually clear the various brooks and channels throughout town. Over the years, there has been many dead trees and other debris causing blockages and senselessly preventing the flow of water.  During extreme events, such potential blockages can lead to unnecessary flooding, which is why we are so focused on routine maintenance and upkeep.

I am committed to continuing to make sound investments in the town’s infrastructure to reduce the impact of these awful storms that appear to be happening more frequently. I am equally committed to securing the outside financial assistance and engineering expertise from larger governments to handle the substantial work that our DPW workers cannot accomplish on their own. 

We will need the continued assistance of the federal, state and county to do so, as our Mayor and Council continue to demand regional solutions that will give many of our property owners the relief they’ve been calling for.