http://www.dailygazette.com

Quoted Text

ROTTERDAM
Flood of new houses raises concern
Residents fear water problems
BY JUSTIN MASON Gazette Reporter

   Lee Harrison looks south from his Masullo Estates home toward the wooded swath of land proposed for Helderberg Meadows and fears history is slowly repeating itself.
   Helderberg Meadows is proposed as 161 single-family houses and 100 condominiums on a 314-acre parcel between County Line Road and the Thruway. After more than a decade of planning, town officials allowed preliminary plans for the project to move forward.
   But some residents fear the development will bring serious water problems in the future. Already, the town has commissioned thousands of dollars worth of studies to resolve long-standing flooding issues in the 88-home Masullo Estates development and more recent groundwater problems in the much smaller Koolkill Meadows subdivision about two miles west.
   Harrison, a longtime resident of Masullo Parkway and a civil engineer licensed in California, doesn’t think the big Helderberg development will exacerbate the drainage problems in his own neighborhood. But he doubts the long fight over building Helderberg Meadows will come to a positive end.
   “I don’t see how they’ll do it right and make a nickel,” he said. “I don’t see how you could put it in without it becoming the Masullo Estates of 30 years from now.”
   Town officials view the Helderberg Meadows project differently. In addition to more carefully scrutinizing the development’s progress, town Supervisor Steve Tommasone said the town stands to gain easements through private lands that will better allow them to try to improve drainage in Masullo Estates.
   “What we’re looking to do is take a very systematic approach and make sure what we do it right,” he said.
   Rotterdam planners allowed Helderberg Meadows to move into the design phase in February, forgoing calls for a stringent environmental assessment. The public hearing was the fifth for the project and was attended by more than 70 people, many of whom protested the project because of chronic water table problems in the southern end of town.
WATERY HISTORY
   Complaints about groundwater issues in Masullo date back to 1983.
   At issue are a series of nonfunctioning or nonexistent clay drainage tiles that were intended to move groundwater to a culvert below Guilderland Avenue and into Becker Brook at the mouth of the development.
   Many residents of the development point to the construction of the adjacent Netherlands development in 1995 as the time when drainage problems worsened. Around the same time, the state Thruway Authority and Department of Transportation started projects to widen Interstate 90 at mile-marker 156 and to rebuild the Guilderland Avenue overpass.
‘PERFECT STORM’
   Harrison, who drafted a 28-page informal study of Masullo Estates at the request of the town Public Works Department, contends the sum of these changes significantly raised the level of groundwater for the low-lying Masullo Estates.
   “The two of them together, they created a perfect storm,” he said.
   In the case of the Netherlands, Harrison points to a poorly constructed drainage pond near East Lucille Lane that feeds water into a ditch along the Thruway. Instead of retaining water, he says the pond augments the groundwater problems in Masullo Estates.
   “The pond is a big feeder for the water table,” he said, “Most of the [runoff] water goes right back into the ground.”
   Similarly, the culvert built by the Thruway Authority guides water from the north side of I-90 and the remnants of the north branch of Becker Brook into an area several hundred feet from Christine and East Lucille lanes. The gradient of the land allows both runoff from the highway and water flowing through the culvert to collect in a marshy area near the development.
   Drainage problems also exist in a cluster of 16 houses on Horizon Boulevard and Bluebird Lane in the Koolkill Meadows subdivision. For nearly two years, town offi cials have fielded complaints from residents of the two cul-de-sac neighborhoods similar to ones lodged by Masullo Estates residents.
   Like many of his Bluebird Lane neighbors, Rick DeLorenzo worries about leaving his home on the culde-sac of Bluebird Lane for fear that his sump pump might fail. Whenever it rains, the hydrostatic pressure forces silt through his cinder block foundation.
   “We still have water. We’re still squeegeeing the basement,” he said. “And it just seems as time goes by, it gets worse and worse.”
   The Koolkill Meadows subdivision within Sunrise Estates was approved by the town in 1992, designed with all basements no less than 3 feet above known high groundwater elevations. Like Masullo Estates, the development has town water but no sewers; houses all have septic systems.
   Residents of the subdivision didn’t experience groundwater problems until nearly a decade after their homes were built. De-Lorenzo, a seven-year resident of the development, points to the construction of about 10 houses about three years ago in Sunrise Estates as a potential source of the neighborhood’s groundwater problems.
   “When those houses went in, each year it got progressively worse,” he said.
   Michael Griesemer, the town’s public works director, disagreed that more development has led to problems for the homes on Horizon Boulevard and Bluebird Lane. He suggested the increased flooding in the development may have resulted from uncommonly wet weather over the past couple years.
TAKING ACTION
   Faced with mounting complaints from both Koolkill and Masullo, town officials began taking a closer look at the drainage problems. In October 2005, Cobleskill-based Lamont Engineers was paid $16,000 to study possible ways to mitigate the water condition in Masullo Estates,
   The study determined the development’s limited soil porosity and flat topography made it diffi cult to keep dry. Lamont suggested the town somehow divert groundwater away from the development into Thruway-owned storm drains, in addition to installing drainage pipes in several areas of the housing tract; the total cost of the improvements was estimated at between $190,000 and $450,000.
   Lamont’s recommendations were ultimately scrapped after the town determined the volume of water pumped into the Thruway drains would be too great for the system to handle. An alternate plan to establish a pumping station in the development was also jettisoned as too costly.
   In January, the town funded a second study of the development, focusing primarily on rebuilding a badly damaged 2,500-foot-long segment of Lucille Lane and Masullo Parkway. The $14,000 study conducted by Brett Steenburgh of Niskayuna determined reconstruction of the section of roadway would cost nearly $1.3 million and would not lower the groundwater level.
   As the town-funded reconstruction moves forward, the residents of Masullo Estates have been asked to consider a project to install a socalled dry sewer line — the pipe work minus an actual sanitary connection — while the roadway is dug up. The dry sewer could eventually tie into a future line and would cost residents of the development $150,000.
   This line could eventually be connected to the sanitation system required for Helderberg Meadows, said Donald Zee, the attorney-ofrecord for the development. And if the Masullo Estates homes drain into a sewer system instead of septic leach fields, he said the groundwater level could markedly drop.
   In addition, Zee said Helderberg Meadows will clear many of the clogged drainage channels carved throughout the wooded property, which once was farmland. The town has been granted access through conservation easements to conduct drainage work anywhere on the open space.
   “The Helderberg developers have worked with the town, and the town has asked for things to help Masullo residents,” he said. “They don’t want to be bad neighbors; they understand the plight they’re in.”
   At the same time, the town is trying to address problems in Koolkill Meadows. Last month, Lamont was contracted for $2,500 to study the subdivision’s flood-prone properties; project engineer Milan Jackson said there will likely be some recommendations by early July.
   Given the history of town development, Tommasone said he understands the concerns of residents over Helderberg Meadows. But now that the plan appears to moving forward, he said the town must ensure proper oversight.
   In part, he said, the town Planning Board and building inspector need to ensure projects are developed as planned. He said the town has also improved its ability to hold developers accountable by passing legislation requiring a security deposit for projects that is refunded only after all aspects of the site plan are completed and confirmed.
   “It’s a lot different than it was 50 years ago,” he said. “Not only is there a greater degree of oversight, there’s more scrutiny today.”

PHOTO COURTESY OF LEE HARRISON
A picture taken from Masullo Parkway resident Lee Harrison’s backyard, shows the largest of several ponds that form in Masullo Estates during wet weather. In the most severe flooding this pond can get over two feet deep

When we bought our home our basement was always dry for about 8years....then the winters began picking up again (as in any climate 'cycle') and now our basement gets some pooling.....this past winter has been drier and the spring thaw wasn't much of a problem.....I'm looking forward to the next 10years of dryness.....I think with a pond like that I would just make a landscaped pond and use what is there....what else could you do with it???

With all of the press that Masullo Estates gets regarding the water problem....who in their right mind would even buy a home in the new Heldeburg Medows development? If I were looking for a new home, I certainly would not be buying one there! And even though I do appreciate all of the studies done and all of the oversite of this project, it just would not be enough to convince me to move there. Not after I see what Masullo's development has gone through and still is.

I have to read this article in full, as I don't have the time right now, but doesn't that title just have a little double entendre?

Quoted Text

Flood of new houses raises concern

Well, I would personally like to thank Justin Mason, reporter for the Gazette on this one.  Who knows how much money he saved the town by doing this study all by himself,  with things that seem to have been around for 20 years.  At least the residents of Masullo won’t have to worry about putting in pools, they just need to go ahead and get the proper Hazmat suits to go swimming when the time is right.

http://www.dailygazette.com

Quoted Text

Rotterdam should stop ignoring
Mother Nature

   Too many developers in Rotterdam have garnered zoning changes and planning board approvals based on greatsounding promises and the clincher — it will increase the tax base! No mention is made of possible costs to taxpayers for road repairs, traffic control, police and emergency services, adverse environmental impact or any damage to neighboring properties.
   This present administration is facing many realities of past practices leading to widespread flooding, deteriorating roads and congested traffic. No easy or inexpensive solutions when much of the town has a high water table!
   Time to change the guidelines and commitments for the developers. Put their money behind their promises by posting a 20-year bond; the interest will help pay for an overseeing inspector.
   Currently, “hearings” are a farce as we listen to the builders’ designers and lawyers and view glorified colored sketches. Records show that despite speeches, photos, letters, petitions and even negative comments from the town’s Conservation Advisory Committee, the developer wins.
   We have developments like Netherlands and Putnam Woods without the required safety of a secondary road. Filling in wetlands and ponds and planting grass hardly qualifies as “building green!”
   I’ll put my money on the power of Mother Nature reminding us regularly we should not allow the clear-cutting of woods, rerouting of streams and filling in and building over wetlands in a flood plain that she designed for another and better reason.
   MARJORIE L. SCHMID
   Rotterdam  

  
  
  

I must agree.  There's nothing that's going to be done about this, even if somebody does speak up.

Well Marjorie, in all do respect...these committees are just the fluff committees that make a town appear to be going in the right direction. However, history has proved that these committees are just that...fluff committees.  They have been glorified and made to make the people on these committees 'think' that with all of the hours and hard work they put into the subject matter, they will make a difference in their community. Well, I say 'poppy cock'! It boils down to business as usual!

Bumble I couldn't agree more. It silences the residents in those flooded areas into thinking that something is being done when in fact nothing is being done. The committee formed to study water problems in Rotterdam was disbanded because the town didn't want to follow the suggestions that the residents on the committee brought up. Their answer is that's too expensive to do or we can't afford to do that hydrological study that the state recommends. We'll just take a chance after all they don't live there someone else does.

Quoted from Shadow

Bumble I couldn't agree more. It silences the residents in those flooded areas into thinking that something is being done when in fact nothing is being done. The committee formed to study water problems in Rotterdam was disbanded because the town didn't want to follow the suggestions that the residents on the committee brought up. Their answer is that's too expensive to do or we can't afford to do that hydrological study that the state recommends. We'll just take a chance after all they don't live there someone else does.

Oh no but we all could jump on the Army corps of Engineers recommendation for a park.....what the heck is wrong with us.....That was the fastest study and action I have ever seen....I wonder if it would actually stand up to mother nature....oh wait, the Army corps of Engineers isn't a private (friends corporation) or are they???????

What a back-asswards system we have...... >

Go back a decade or two, when the so called 'fluff committee' put all of their blood and sweat into the proposed Rotterdam Square Mall project. These people said then, that nothing should be built there. And what happened? Jimmy Constantino got his hands greased from the union and the committee got 'fluffed off'.

Most of these people on these committees are along majority party lines at the time. But when the majority changes during an election, some of these committee people get some flack from the new, opposing administration. Some previoius committee members have told me that first hand. Let me clarify that this has not happened lately. Perhaps it has, but I have not heard of it.

http://www.dailygazette.com

Quoted Text

Rotterdam puts its finger in d**e again

   If you’re wondering why the town of Rotterdam has given preliminary approval for a big housing project in an area known for its flooding problems, the answer is, we don’t know. Existing residents of that area are right to be concerned that the project, which would bring 161 singlefamily houses and 100 condominums, will make things worse. And town officials’ vague responses to those concerns, and lack of ability to fix the current problems, are less than reassuring.
   The area, between County Line Road and the Thruway, has a high water table. That is the main reason why residents of the low-lying Masullo Estates development have been bedeviled by water problems since it was built in 1983. Whatever engineering tricks were conceived at the time to improve drainage, such as tiles that were supposed to move groundwater through a culvert into a nearby brook, were either done badly or not at all. The problem appears to have been compounded by the 1995 construction of the nearby Netherlands development, which has a poorly designed drainage pond that only adds to the groundwater. Yet another subdivision, Koolkill Meadows, built in the mid-1990s, has problems similar to Masullo.
   In the last few years, as complaints have mounted, basements have flooded and roads have washed out, the town has considered various engineering fixes. For various reasons — including cost and, more to the point, feasibility — none has been employed.
   Incredibly, the town has let the new development, known as Helderberg Meadows, proceed without requiring an in-depth study under the State Environmental Quality Review Act. Such a study would take a thorough look at the hydrological conditions in the area, while noting the problems and possible ways of mitigating them, as well as alternatives to constructing in that location.
   Without more knowledge of those conditions, there’s no reason to believe that this new development will make things better, as the developer’s attorney says it could, through the addition of sewer lines and the clearing of drainage ditches. And Supervisor Steven Tommasone’s suggestion that further problems can be avoided through closer monitoring of the development by the town, and requiring a bond to make sure all aspects of the site plan are followed, seems like so much wishful thinking.  

  
  
  

Not one of the people saying that building Helderberg Meadows is qualified to make any definitive remarks about what's going to happen if the development is built. Only an engineer trained in hydrology can make that determination and only after an extensive study of the area in question. Again it's I think that it'll be OK and if it isn't well too bad for the residents.

Here we go with the "who ya know"......again......seems the army corps of engineers were very quick in their study etc for the NEW PARK......we are a bunch of idiots....the DEMS/REPS/COUNTY/TOWN......no where is no where......and dead in the water is dead in the water.......maybe Sparky should let them all into the litter box........

This will definately be a 'buyer beware' senerio. I, for one, will tell anyone that I can, to NOT buy a house in Heldeburg Medows. I think that the potential buyers, if from out of this area, will not be unaware of the water problem that exists. They should be told of the potential for water and flooding problems, when and if they occur. And the builders should be held accountable if it does happen. We clearly do NOT want a repeat of Masullo estates.