New City, NY (August 3, 2011) – The Rockland County Legislature approved the request of Legislature Vice Chairman Alden H. Wolfe by voting to add a revaluation and updated study for a proposed flood remediation project along the Ramapo and Mahwah Rivers in Suffern to the Capital Projects Budget. For many decades, the Mahwah River, which runs through Suffern into New Jersey’s Ramapo River, has been the source of significant flooding in Western Ramapo, predominantly in the Squire’s Gate and Lake Antrim areas of Suffern, as well as the area of Lake Road in Montebello.
The project was originally authorized by the Army Corps of Engineers in the 1990’s under the Federal Water Resource Development Act of 1986, but lay dormant until 2000 when the involved parties (States of NY and NJ, Village of Suffern, Mahwah, NJ Township and the County of Rockland) expressed interest in resuming the project. The Corps completed a feasibility study and reauthorized the project in 2008 and advised that it was ready to proceed with a reevaluation study to report on changed conditions and the potential for new or alternative plans. The cost of that study is shared by the federal, state and local government. The local government share in 2010 was $344,000. Wolfe had requested that the Capital Project be increased to $400,000 to take into consideration any inflationary increases.
“I thank my colleagues for recognizing the importance of this long-delayed update,” said Wolfe. “This project has languished for years while our neighbors continue to suffer financial and emotional losses. I trust that this commitment will allow us to finally move forward with this critical study, in partnership with the Army Corps of Engineers and the States of New York and New Jersey.”
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