Kinnelon Resident: Stop the Flooding in Our Neighborhood

Residents in the area of Glendale Terrace came to the meeting on Thursday night to continue to voice their concerns over a lingering issue of flooding in their neighborhood.

Jack Douglas, a Glendale Terrace resident, spoke on behalf of his neighbors for the second month in a row, hoping that a solution to the flooding problem could be uncovered quickly. Douglas was unhappy with the way the situation has been handled, stating that he has not been kept abreast of any developments in determining the cause of the flooding, as well as how to stop it.

“When we met at the last meeting, I received no communication for 20 days. I didn’t hear a thing about what we were going to do, or if I was available to schedule time in the afternoon [to meet],” Douglas said. “Without any notice or anybody trying to schedule with me, the Councilman [Dan O’Dougherty], the engineer and the DPW showed up and took a look. I wasn’t able to have a conversation with them, express my concerns or show them where the property lines were.”

“I had hoped to receive at least some suggestions, some help and some ideas on what could possibly be done,” he continued.

Douglas stated that several storm drains in the area - three on Fayson Lakes Road, four off of Glendale Terrace and an additional two that come out around 6 Glendale Terrace - are largely to blame for the flooding conditions in the area.

“Everybody’s trying to minimize it and say it’s a natural condition,” Douglas said.

Mayor Bob Collins responded to Douglas by stating that so much of the land near the flood-prone area is New Jersey Wetlands-protected, and, therefore, cannot be altered under Wetlands guidelines.

“The assessment we’re getting back from our engineer is that it’s wetlands,” Collins said. “We’re trying to address this, but Kinnelon has a lot of rock and a lot of water and we can’t, of course, go in and fill in wetlands. If you’re saying it’s a drainage problem due to existing culverts, we can take a look at that.”

Collins stated that he and the borough are willing to work with residents affected by the flooding issues in the hopes that they can come up with a resolution together.

“I think that talking to homeowners is probably the best way to go,” Collins said to Douglas. “You probably understand the property better than anybody else.