OC Flood Mitigation Program Continues to Flow

OCEAN CITY – Ocean City Dec. 5 held another in a series of town hall meetings focused on topics of interest to property owners. This one, at Ocean City Tabernacle, focused on flood mitigation. 
Mayor Jay Gillian often stated that effective flood mitigation would enhance property values, improve public safety, and protect the environment.  
Over 130 property owners and other interested individuals joined the meeting with the opportunity to ask questions, which primarily centered on their situations related to flooding. 
Gillian emphasized that “we have reached a level of an acceptable base, and now, we will be working to maintain the work that has been done already.”  
In an earlier statement, Business Administrator George Savastano noted, “The city knows that this program is critically important to our community. Mitigating flooding, however, is feasible in our flood-prone areas and serves the entire city by enhancing the viability of our community as a seashore resort.” 
Ocean City’s commitment to an ongoing, multi-year flood reduction program was cited by various environmental and citizen groups as a model for all Jersey Shore towns dealing with rising sea levels. 
The city dedicated millions of dollars in the past few years for a far-reaching flood mitigation program, including pump stations throughout neighborhoods where the problem is most severe.  
For the Dec. 5 town hall meeting, Gillian was joined by a representative of ACT Engineers, Carol Beske, who talked about new technology that would provide detailed high-resolution identification of where the most flood-prone areas are for effective mapping leading to better defenses against rising sea levels. 
“This new technology, LiDAR (Light Detection and Ranging), is mounted on an airplane and will really help us measure how Ocean City, as a low-lying barrier island with more storms of greater intensity each year, is affected,” she said. “Since 1911, sea levels along the Jersey coast have risen 17.6 inches and just since 1979, over 8 inches on the Jersey Shore. 
“Many of us here today have experienced this rise firsthand. Thus, we are now undertaking a tip-to-tip master plan to control flooding and not just address individual locations as has been done in the past,” she added.  
Savastano noted, “Ocean City has very strict ordinances to control building construction and keep our flood mitigation efforts to the highest level possible. In fact, I would say that after the thousands and thousands of hours of work we have put into this issue and the significant sums of money, Ocean City is the leader among barrier islands in flood mitigation. This work has resulted in the city receiving an ‘outstanding’ rating, so that our homeowners get a 30% discount in their flood insurance rates.” 
Speaking about costs, Savastano explained, “We estimate we will need $25 million over the next few years for the design and permitting to raise elevations as needed, install more pumps, and do the actual work that is necessary. We will be staggering the projects to minimize the disruption to the extent we can. 
“The funding of costs will be folded into our overall capital plan and will not compromise other major projects, such as the new public safety building we will be constructing.” 
Savastano presented a series of maps and other technical details that delineate where flooding areas are the worst on the island, what efforts have been done to date, and what plans are for the future. 
The presentation is available on the city’s website, at https://bit.ly/39RH9CH. 
During public comment, dozens of homeowners described how their individual properties are being affected by unrelenting flooding that is occurring more often, even during sunny days after storms.  
To contact Camille Sailer, email csailer@cmcherald.com.