MARK CRESSOTTI
WESTFIELD – Mayor Daniel M. Knapik is tonight submitting a request to the City Council to begin consideration of taking an industrial road off East Main Street, legislative action needed to appropriate funds of a federal flood-control grant.
City Engineer Mark Cressotti said this morning that the city has been awarded a Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) grant to install technology to prevent the frequent flooding of Mainline Drive, which floods through the drainage lines intended to carry stormwater from the roadway to the nearby Little River.
The chronic flooding is due to the fact that river is subject to rapid rises in the water level during major storms and pushes water backward through the storm drains into the low areas of Mainline Drive.
“We’re acquiring the roadway which has been an issue for some time,” Cressotti said. “Back in the 1970 when the industrial subdivision was built, the developers, SAB Realty, kept the roadway right of way, it was never conveyed to the city.”
The principals of that corporation have since passed away and the corporation has ceased to function as required by state regulations.
“We did deed searches to identify the owners, but found there was nobody to reach out to, so the city is taking the right of way,” Cressotti said. “The issue is that we’re getting flooding on Mainline drive and nearby plazas when river water backs up through the storm drains and we can eliminate that by installing of a back-flow device.
“We have a FEMA grant to do that work, work which has already been through the permitting process, but I can’t spend it on (improvements) to private property,” Cressotti said.
The Conservation Commission approve conditions for two drainage improvements along Mainline Drive earlier this year, the back flow prevention device on the outflow of the storm drainage system requested by the city, a pipe cover that is pushed across the pipe mouth as the river level rises, and a second smaller system, requested by the state Department of Transportation for an area near the intersection of East Main and Mainline drive to eliminate ponding of water which inhibits access to the DOT facility and several other businesses.
