STONE HARBOR – At the Oct. 7 meeting of the borough council, Public Works Director Manny Parada described a stormwater pilot project his department will undertake on Sunset Drive between 92nd and 95th streets.
What he called a low-investment project may help with bay-side flooding by preventing bay water from entering the borough through what should be outflow pipes.
The area for the pilot was selected because the test can coincide with the raising of three bulkheads that should prevent overflow from the bay.
Parada proposed installing three manual butterfly valves that would prevent water from flowing into the borough and up into the streets through drainage grates. The valves could be closed, when necessary, but they will require manual intervention from Public Works staff.
Parada said that if the experience proved the strategy to be valuable, the borough could then entertain whether to take on the added expense of automated valves that would not require manual effort.
He said the bulkheads would be raised by early December, allowing a test of the strategy with the butterfly valves.
