Isolated Neighborhood Floods, Help Sought

OCEAN CITY – Flanked by lagoons, the tiny neighborhood at the end of West 17th Street is an island unto itself, separated from the rest of Ocean City by a narrow channel of water.
The island needs protection, resident Warren Reiner told Ocean City Council during public comment which started the July 25 meeting.
“Our island is completely isolated from the rest of Ocean City and has different problems, hardships and concerns,” he said.
At issue are flooding and the condition of the bulkheads surrounding the neighborhood. Despite Reiner’s assertion, flooding is a concern throughout most of Ocean City, as well as on most barrier island communities. In recent years, the city has undertaken large-scale projects to ease flooding in several neighborhoods.
Joined by several neighbors at the otherwise quiet meeting, Reiner called on the city to install pumps to move water off the street, even at high tides. He also asked that holes be repaired in the bulkheads around the neighborhood.
In some instances, those holes were created by homeowners to allow water to drain out. In others, they are older bulkheads in need of replacement, he said.
According to Reiner, who founded his engineering firm, the neighborhood dates to the early 1900s. Like other lagoon neighborhoods in Ocean City, it was created using material dredged from the lagoons to build up the marshland enough to support construction, projects undertaken long before current wetlands protections were in place.
The neighborhood is shaped like a comma, with 17th Street forming a loop with houses on the inside and out. The waterside of the neighborhood, which Reiner said is called Bayous Island, bristles with docks. The neighborhood is just over a narrow waterway from Bay Avenue.
In 2016, Cape May County approved spending close to $3 million to replace the short bridge on 17th Street, keeping one lane open for the lengthy project to allow access to the neighborhood.
“There is only one way in or out of the island,” Reiner said. “At times, we have over 200 people living here. Our residents must slog a distance of up to a quarter mile through water in all kinds of weather and flood conditions. I will never forget watching a neighbor trying to push his disabled adult son in a wheelchair through the floodwaters to his home.”
Reiner said floodwaters have damaged his property.
He wants council to approve an ordinance prohibiting holes in bulkheads.
City Administrator George Savastano, also an engineer, said he would arrange for someone with the engineering department to meet with Reiner.
“That was a good presentation,” he said. “We have very similar concerns with your neighborhood.”
Reiner cited studies done by Baker Engineering in 2016 on flooding in the neighborhood. He said he had heard nothing further on the study.
“We have not found anyone in authority that will help us out,” Reiner said.
Savastano said he had seen the Baker study and would make it available to Reiner.
“That’s not going to solve your problem but it’s a start,” he said.
Council members also discussed his proposal for an ordinance on bulkheads. According to City Attorney Dorothy McCrosson, there is an ordinance requiring bulkheads be maintained, but can’t compel a property owner to install a bulkhead where one does not exist.
If the hole in a bulkhead is a pipe which was deliberately installed, she said, that may not count as a maintenance issue.
“But it is something a new ordinance could address,” she said.
Councilman Anthony Wilson, who represents the 3rd Ward which includes the neighborhood, said he would like to be included in future meetings with Reiner.
At the meeting, council approved by resolution two contracts with ACT engineering for flooding planning. One would have the engineers undertake a flood mitigation analysis in the Merion Park area and West Avenue from 43rd to 45th streets, not to exceed $100,000.
A second resolution approved a contract not to exceed $140,000 with the same firm for work on a flood mitigation and drainage master plan.
To contact Bill Barlow, email bbarlow@cmcherald.com.