By Margie Donlon and Luanne Peterpaul

The wild weather this summer reignited concerns about how we address flooding from streams, rivers, lakes, and the stormwater runoff that shut down roads and disrupted daily life in Monmouth County for days.

Street flooding has intensified as development continues to reduce the green spaces we count on to absorb the torrential rains that have become more frequent. The aging water infrastructure in our municipalities wasn’t designed to handle the volume of water we are seeing today. Municipal governments are restricted to trying to solve the flood and stormwater runoff within their own boundaries while their neighbors are experiencing the same problems, often from the same sources. 

We believe that has to change.

That’s why we are the primary sponsors of legislation to help municipalities develop the planning and engineering work needed to evaluate regional solutions and coordinate projects across municipal boundary lines. This approach would drive better understanding of how their infrastructure systems work together and where investments can have the greatest impact.

Our legislation encourages communities to collaborate and to look at the entire system to develop solutions that reflect how these waterways and drainage networks actually function. This bill also creates a mechanism for towns to discuss development projects, ongoing and proposed, with neighboring communities to better understand how they impact each other's current and future infrastructure needs. 

To accomplish this, we propose creating a grant program through the Department of Environmental Protection. The DEP would provide water infrastructure grants of up to $2 million per project for municipal water infrastructure planning and design. These grants also would be available for wastewater treatment and drinking water infrastructure projects. As proposed, there would be no requirement of matching funds from municipalities.

These infrastructure challenges are not theoretical. Residents and business owners are dealing with them right now. Every year that we put off comprehensive planning is another year communities remain vulnerable to the next major storm. 

We will continue to meet with our municipal government partners and to connect them with the DEP, as we did this summer to address frequent flooding in LD11 towns, areas like Wesley Lake, between Asbury Park and Ocean Grove, which breached its banks again during the July storms. We owe it to residents, businesses, and taxpayers to make sure we are planning for the future.

On a separate note, tomorrow marks the 25th anniversary of the September 11 terrorist attacks that claimed the lives of 147 Monmouth County residents in 2011. Alongside our LD11 partner, Senator Vin Gopal, we are hosting a memorial service at 9 a.m. tomorrow in Long Branch City Hall.

We will never forget our neighbors and friends who perished that day or the brave first responders who gave their lives trying to save others in the World Trade Center towers. We hope you can join us in Long Branch as we honor their memory.

###