The Villadom Times Weekly Newspaper Online-Oct 20, 2010 Issue

Allendale October 20, 2010 THE VILLADOM TIMES III • Page 3 Engineer to review risk of ﬂooding at townhouse tract by John Koster Allendale’s borough engineer will be asked to review the risk of flooding at a local townhouse tract. The issue was raised at last week’s council meeting by a townhouse owner who has mortgage concerns due to new and tougher standards regarding his home’s location in a floodplain. The resident said the problem is a technical one that extends beyond the local political sphere. “We can’t do anything to take the property out of the flood zone,” Mayor Vince Barra told the townhouse owner, who appeared at last week’s work session with an engineer to ask for some relief. The man said he had purchased the townhouse in good faith about eight years ago and only learned when he was forced to sell his home that the land on which the townhouses were built is located in the designated 100-year floodplain. The builder and the builder’s engineer who signed off on the original plans are both deceased, he said, and he had never been told about the floodplain status of the property, until a potential buyer who tried to qualify for a mortgage was rejected by the bank because the unit is located in a floodplain. The owner said that neither he nor his neighbors had ever experienced a flood at that address, and that more recent approval had been granted to a large development located downhill from his own unit. He and his engineer asked if Allendale could issue a letter stating that the site was safe from flooding “beyond a reasonable doubt.” An action he hoped would enable his buyer to obtain a mortgage. He said that an offer to accept cash for the unit had come in $20,000 lower than he could have obtained through a sale to a mortgage holder, and the engineer he retained said a hydrological study would show the property was safe from flooding, but would cost $10,000 to $20,000. Mayor Barra said that the examination of the unit’s flood status was a job for John Yakimik, Allendale’s contract engineer with Dewberry, but that Yakimik would have to evaluate the site along strictly professional standards and could not be swayed by economic considerations. “We’re not here to frustrate you, nor can we lean on your engineer to ask him to do something that he’s not comfortable with,” Mayor Barra told the man. “He’s not going to put his license on the line by signing off on something that he’s not comfortable with, and we’re not going to ask him to put his license on the line.” The mayor said he would ask Yakimik, who was not present at the council meeting, to take a look at the property and offer a professional opinion as to whether there is a risk of flooding, but that the parameters of the 100-year flood zone were established by Allendale’s zoning ordinance and that no actual change was possible unless the original ordinance was proven wrong. Mayor Barra said Yakimik might be willing to provide some sort of validation for the owner’s claim that there was no real risk of a flood, and that the mayor would ask him to take an objective look at the site and drawn his own conclusions. “We’ll try to do this and see if we can accommodate you,” Mayor Barra said. Princess 7 Nails & Spa $ �� 25 - Manicure and Pedicure (Mon -Wed) $ 60 - LCN Gel Set Eyelash Extensions Facials • Massage $20 or more with this coupon ANNIVERSARY SPECIAL �� WAXING - 20% OFF 10% Off all services for Senior Citizens • Gift Certiﬁcates Available 40 B Franklin Turnpike • Waldwick NJ • 201 444 8839 Open 7 days - M-F 9:30- 7:30 • Sat 9-6:30 • Sun 10-6 (Across from Waldwick Burger King) �� 10-20-10 Mike/Janine PrincessNails3x3BW(10-20-10) 3 x 3” �� Vote for the change Waldwick needs. Elect: � � � � John Patrick Hunter & Frank Jaegge TO THE WALDWICK TOWN COUNCIL Tuesday, November 2nd We will save taxpayers money and give back 100% of our council salary. Yes, we will work for FREE! For more information please visit our website: www.thechangewaldwickneeds.com Paid for by the D. C. C. W. Stan Wekarski Treasurer. ��