Ossining Town and Village Boards Continue Discussion on Flooding Problem at Braircliff Woods

Tension was thick last night at the Caputo Community Center in Ossining as members of the Ossining Town Board, The Village Board and residents of Briarcliff Woods Condominiums met to continue the discussion of the severe flooding problem within the condominium complex.
The purpose of last night’s meeting was to allow residents who didn’t get a chance to voice their opinions in last week’s meeting to speak up. In addition, there was a presentation by town engineer James Vanoli of several options the town has devised for solving the flooding problem and the pro’s and con’s of each.
“There is a little bit of discussion between the town and the village boards,” said Town Supervisor Catherine Borgia. “But we are all in agreement. We are here in the spirit of co-operation.”
Both the town and village officials toured the facility and saw first hand the damage the residents complained about. During rainstorms, the water overflows the catch basin at the top of the hill and runs down into the condominium complex causing severe flooding and damage to the condo homes below. The problem is that Briarcliff Woods lies on the border of the town and the village and neither municipality has done anything to address the problems the residents have been facing for more then a decade.
“There is a huge build up of water that comes off the hills and road,” said one Briarcliff woods resident. “I had just replaced the carpet in my bedroom.”
Many of the residents in attendance at last night’s meeting felt very frustrated with the situation.
“My house has been hit the hardest. I don’t want to hear about money. Get this thing solved. I can’t get through another hit…if my dog dies forget it. It has to get stopped,” said a male resident of Briarcliff Woods. “We love our community. We don’t want to live on the beaches of Normandy. Did you see all the sand bags? We want to live in a beautiful community.”
The flooding and damage to property weren’t the only things residents were concerned about; they were also worried about the erosion of the hill and the safety and well being of their loved ones.
“I have two children and their windows are 10 feet from the hill,” said Isabella, another condo resident. “I’m worried about mud, rocks and trees. Someone needs to do something tomorrow.”
“You can rest assured we are concerned about your well being,” said Ossining Village Manager Richard Leins. “What we are looking at is a health and welfare issue that needs to be fixed. You just have to bite the bullet and do the right thing. The high priority is the catch basin.”
Some of the suggestions offered by the town engineer included what the town could do on their own and what could be done if the town and the village worked together. Things the town could do by themselves included redirecting the water to go down Ogden Road, to send the water to the stream that flows on the east side of 9A and to build stations that would allow the water to be redistributed in several ways. If the town and the village do work together the options are more extensive and expensive. That includes modifications made to the hillside.
“This is a major, major project,” said Town Engineer James Vanoli.
While several long term solutions were presented, there wasn’t anything offered to the residents in the short-term. However, several residents expressed their own ideas for short-term fixes while a long term capital project is researched. Two suggestions stood out for consideration by the board: having a truck come in to pump the water out during flooding and running a pipe from the catch basin at the top of the hill to the catch basin at the condo complex.
“We do have an action plan,” Borgia said at the end of the meeting. “We do have a commitment for the town and village engineers would talk and we will look at other short term solutions. The town board is committed to being the leading agent on this to make sure something happens.”
This issue will continue to be discussed and will be on the agenda at the next Town Board work session.