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Nov. 23, 2005

Mayor: “We will pursue every possible means to find a permanent solution”

At its Nov. 22 meeting, Woodbridge Township Council passed a resolution to set aside $7,500 for an independent engineering firm to explore alternative methods for flood mitigation along the Woodbridge River, Mayor Frank G. Pelzman has announced.

Najarian Associates of Eatontown submitted a proposal to review the upcoming draft of an Army Corps of Engineers report assessing remedies for flooding along the river’s western bank in Avenel. In addition, the firm will research alternatives to the solutions proposed by the Army Corps.

It is the latest step in a decade-long Township effort to spur the federal government into action.

“The Mayor’s office and Council have been trying for years to get the Army Corps to initiate a project to stop the flooding,” says Mayor Pelzman. “We have held public meetings, orchestrated letter-writing campaigns to federal officials and attempted to personally engage state and federal lawmakers on behalf of our residents.”

The answer received from Washington is always the same, says the Mayor: until regulators at the federal level can justify the cost according to their fiscal criteria, the Woodbridge River flood control project will not be funded.

“Meanwhile, we continue to pursue additional options we earnestly hope will secure the necessary funds,” says Mayor Pelzman. “As long as I am mayor, we will never stop press our case for flood control funding.”