FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
March 28, 2014
Contact:
Anthony Puglisi
973-621-2542
Lauren Shears
973-621-1590
ESSEX COUNTY EXECUTIVE DIVINCENZO OPPOSES CONSTRUCTION
OF DAM AND DETENTION BASIN IN ESSEX COUNTY SOUTH MOUNTAIN
RESERVATION TO ADDRESS RAHWAY RIVER FLOODING
Change would have negative impact on the environment, recreation and roads
Essex County, NJ – Essex County Executive Joseph N. DiVincenzo, Jr. announced
that he does not support a proposal to build an 880-foot long, 70-foot tall earthen dam in
Essex County South Mountain Reservation and asked the Army Corps of Engineers to
look into other strategies to address flooding downstream on the Rahway River. If
constructed, the dam would transform a large part of South Mountain Reservation into a
“retention basin” for flood waters after heavy storms, close Brookside Drive and create a
structure that would tower over any nearby buildings.
“The potential for flooding in Millburn, Cranford and other communities downstream the
Rahway River is a serious issue and should be addressed. However, it can’t come at
the expense of destroying an natural resource such as South Mountain Reservation and
reducing the quality of life for Essex County residents,” DiVincenzo said. “We have
always maintained that protecting the reservation was our priority and informed the
Mayor’s Council on the Rahway River in the summer of 2013 of this important and
unchangeable condition. We also told them to find alternatives that were less
detrimental to South Mountain and kept Brookside Drive open,” he added.
DiVincenzo pointed out that a similar proposal to develop a dam and create a detention
basin was introduced in the late 1970s and early 1980s. At that earlier time it was
concluded that the plan would have detrimental effects on the reservation and would not
significantly address the issue of flooding downstream.
A study in 1976 led by Thomas C. Hunter, Jr., Colonel and District Engineer with the
Army Corps of Engineers, states there are other ways to address the flooding issue,
including deepening the Rahway River so more water can be held between its banks,
stabilizing the Rahway River by constructing concrete channels, and creating floodwalls
and levees in the vicinity of Millburn, and widening and deepening the river channel,
modernizing bridges to allow flood water to flow through unimpeded, and using some
concrete channels in the vicinity of Cranford. The study also found that the costs of
using Diamond Mill Pond and Campbell’s Pond in South Mountain Reservation “far
exceed the flood control benefits derived from such a plan” and that Campbell’s Pond
has been “found to be marginally uneconomical” and “would have little effect upon the
flood problem experienced along the East Branch in the Townships of Millburn and
Union.”
In addition, an environmental assessment of the plans from 30 years ago concluded
that creating the detention basin would be detrimental to transportation, recreation, the
local economy, land usage and breed mosquitoes.
 Transportation: “Roads would still be inundated and the traffic problems would
still occur.”
 Recreation: “Since these areas are usually not protected by a non-structural
solution, flooding would result in an adverse effect on certain forms of
recreational use.”
 Economy: “Land that is still continuously flooded would have a detrimental effect
on monetary values of this property. Additionally, the relocation of structures
would affect the tax base of the affected locality.”
 Land Usage: “Flooding would preclude the utilization of the remaining
unprotected land for residential, commercial, industrial or recreational purposes.”
 Mosquitoes: “Poor drainage and stagnant pools following recent flood episodes
would provide additional breeding grounds for mosquitoes.”
It concluded that building a dam to create a detention basin in the area of Campbell’s
Pond would not completely eliminate flooding and that “during flooding episodes,
vegetation, animals and aquatic life would be periodically disrupted or destroyed within
the detention basin itself. It was, therefore, concluded that the benefit of no work along
the West Branch in Millburn resulting from a detention basin was outweighed by the
potential environmental damage to the 63 acre area surrounding Campbell’s Pond.”
Carl Moritz, former Essex County Director of Parks, Recreation and Cultural Affairs
Director, authored an inter-office correspondence in 1979 that quantified the negative
impact a dam and detention basin would have on South Mountain Reservation.
According to Moritz, because of the periodic flooding, 286 acres of woodlands, more
than five miles of hiking trails, a camp site, two picnic locations, three scenic lookout
sites, and roads for motor vehicle traffic would be lost.
Essex County was against using the reservation as a retention basin even back in 1980.
In response to the study, then Essex County Executive Peter Shapiro wrote “the Army
Corps of Engineers shows that the construction of a retention basin in South Mountain
Reservation is not a cost-effective way of preventing flooding in Millburn Township.”
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