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LARCHMONT, N.Y. In the coming months Woodard & Curran, an engineering company used by Westchester County, will evaluate the Pine Brook to determine the feasibility of correcting longstanding flooding problems and to update cost estimates from a 2008 inspection.
This village is committed to doing as much as it can physically and fiscally to mitigate the flooding in Pine Brook, Mayor Anne McAndrews said at Monday nights Board of Trustees meeting. But it hasnt happened for a series of reasons physically and fiscally.
When it comes to the Pine Brook flooding, which greatly affected residents of the Pine Brook Drive area in 2007 and 2011, numerous issues and roadblocks get in the way of fixing the outdated underground water system that is currently in place.
Beechmont Lake in New Rochelle is the main source of the Pine Brook in Larchmont. The water flowing from Beechmont feeds into an underground pipe that travels underneath the streets of New Rochelle and into Larchmont.
The stream lets out into a larger river, called the Premium River, at the Tonys Nursery property on Boston Post Road. Just slightly downstream from where the Pine Brook lets out into the Premium River is an area considered a critical environmental area by the state Department of Environmental Conservation. Any work that may affect the area requires additional permits and possibly the purchse of properties.
The Pine Brook also flows next to one of New Rochelles city fields, Pine Brook Park, north of Beechmont Lake. A major flood mitigation project was just completed there, McAndrews said, and studies need to be conducted to understand the effects of that project downstream in Larchmont.
Our engineers will be talking with New Rochelle engineers to see how those flood mitigation structures are going to impact us downstream, McAndrews said.
After the $9,100 feasibility report is done and the cost estimates are updated, Larchmont can then approach Westchester County to determine who will bear the financial burden of installing larger pipes, increasing the amount of water discharged into the Premium River and widening the river itself to allow more water intake. The estimated the cost of the entire project in 2006 was found to be about $4.6 million.
The Board of Trustees approved the Woodard & Curran evaluation at Monday's meeting. McAndrews met with Westchester County representatives to discuss the drainage problems and possible solutions on July 25, prompting this inspection of the conditions surrounding Pine Brook.
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