Dear Editor,
Re: “Town OKs raising site by 8 feet for proposed Comfort Inn near Washington Avenue QuickChek stores,” April 25, 2016: I read this story with chagrin. Does the town of Ulster realize that the most basic and effective line of defense against flooding is protection of the floodplain?
The developer’s representative notes that the project’s first phase requires raising the property about 8 feet because it’s in a flood plain. He adds, “It has some soils that aren’t suitable to essentially allow this property to be developed.”
If that is true, then, perhaps, the property shouldn’t be developed.
Simply raising a building eight feet above the floodplain grade does not remove it from the floodplain: it constitutes filling in the floodplain, as well as placing a new structure in that floodplain. And this project is large; according to the article it will require 1,540 truckloads of fill.
That sounds like a significant impact.
A river’s floodplain works to spread flood waters, slow them down, and allow water to soak into the ground. When we build or place fill in floodplains, we destroy their ability to provide this benefit. As a result, the more we fill in or build in floodplains, the more we risk increased flood flows and subsequent downstream property damage in future floods. We have already seen this demonstrated along the Esopus Creek.
This concept is a mainstay in flood mitigation planning. The town must know this.
Is the Town of Ulster concerned with protecting residents from future flood damage? Its actions regarding this project seem to indicate otherwise.
Karen Schneller-McDonald
Red Hook, N.Y.
The writer is a water resources specialist and author of “Connecting the Drops: A Citizens’ Guide to Protecting Water Resources” (Cornell Univ. Press 2015).