Mayor's Update - August 23, 2021

[fyi]

Mayor's Update - August 23, 2021

Dear Cranbury Residents,

I hope you’re digging out and drying off from the historic rainfall we received yesterday morning in Cranbury --- 8.91 inches fell in two hours and we “won” the Tropical Storm Henri rainfall record, as the storm system sat over Cranbury. We watched North Main Street fill up, and then saw Brainerd Lake breech two hours later when the upstream water overtook the road. Check out drone footage from a resident here and a nice picture timeline from Scoutmaster Tim Brennan here. Thankfully, there were no fatalities.

The dam and spillway worked as designed and carried a large volume of water over the road and back into the river and traveling downstream. Unfortunately, many homes took on water in their basements and first floors. Affected residents should work with their insurance companies; if you need a dumpster, please proceed with procuring one and the Township will waive pre-approval dumpster permitting for the next 30 days.

As of this morning, there are still local roads that are closed or blocked due to flooding or traffic signal outages: Old Trenton Rd, John White Rd, Petty Rd, Old Cranbury Rd and Dey Rd. Please do not cross barriers and defy detours.

THANK YOU to our amazing Fire Company, who used their rafts to rescue stranded pedestrians and motorists. THANK YOU to our Police, who managed all the road closures and sheltered stranded motorists at the station, as well as handling other emerging issues. THANK YOU to our DPW crew who lowered the lake level the night before the storm, and again in the early morning, postponing the lake breeching the dam by several minutes. Last but not least, THANK YOU to all the residents who offered sump pumps, hoses, and other tools to their fellow neighbors. Our Fire Company is all volunteer, so please consider volunteering your time to this important organization!

Brainerd Lake Dredging. As you know, the lake will be dredged this fall to remove sediment for the first time since the 1970s. It is important to note that this project is NOT a flood prevention project; once the lake level has risen to the level to breech the road, the depth of the lake will do nothing to prevent that the breech. Brainerd Lake is really a dammed river (Cranbury Brook), which rises and falls based on the flow from upstream. At best, lowering the lake level post-dredging could delay the breech a few minutes further. The engineering contractor was on-site yesterday to see what a “high water level situation” looks like to inform the project timeline. FAQs are posted on the township page and can be found here.

September 11 – Cranbury Day and Helene Cody 5K race. Look forward to a day of fun and community connection. There will be a special moment to honor those lost on 9/11/2001. The Helene Cody 5K course has shifted back to be bounded by South Main Street, Old Trenton Road and Station Road and will start/stop in Heritage Park. You can see the flyer for Cranbury Day here - I love the “It’s a small town thing” theme!

https://www.cranburytownship.org/home/news/cranbury-day-september-11th

October 2 and 3 is Clean Up Weekend. Bring your unwanted items to the DPW Yard at 100 Dey Road; the hours of operation will be 7:00am to 3:00pm, rain or shine. The DPW crew will be on site to help unload your unwanted discards. Acceptable materials include household items that are too large to fit inside your trash tote. NO household trash, paint or hazardous waste items will be accepted. This service is open to Cranbury residents only.

Public Library Construction. The project is on track for a Summer 2022 completion and grand opening. Check out the summer library newsletter here. I just used the new LMxAC to reserve my favorite author’s newest book – the new system allows Cranbury residents to access the collections of any/all libraries in Middlesex County and have it delivered right to 30 North Main Street --- a great side benefit of separating from the Cranbury School collection.

See you at Cranbury Day September 11!

Regards,

Michael Ferrante, Mayor
Cranbury Township Committee

https://www.cranburytownship.org/home/news/mayors-update-august-23-2021

[inactionalert-4982]

Mayor Says:

The dam and spillway worked as designed and carried a large volume of water over the road and back into the river and traveling downstream. Unfortunately, many homes took on water in their basements and first floors. Affected residents should work with their insurance companies; if you need a dumpster, please proceed with procuring one and the Township will waive pre-approval dumpster permitting for the next 30 days.

Inaction alert says:

The new dam and spillway DID DOT WORK. Upstream drainage to river then to Brainerd Lake caused a slight delay in lake flooding, BUT it damn sure came and the new dam and spillway breached!!

Further, the towns storm water management plan for north main does not exist and has not been changed since they installed storm sewers ages ago. BUT development has increased, road height has increased and overall impervious in the Village has increased. Floyd, Irene, Sandy and now Henri all show that the lack of a plan directly results in the disastrous flooding of every property on the West side of North Main from Bunker Hill to the Lake.

Mayor and TC, look around and actually make a plan to deal with the lake, overall stormwater management, and the incessant development East of 130.

How about spend the money on such as Plan rather then more funding of "economic development" plans to help the Village. No business can exist if it is repeatedly flooded out.

[anon-5100]

I lived here through Sandy and Irene. My feeling during both was that the TC worked with residents and I never had the sense the residents and businesses were being left on their own to figure it out. In fact it was the opposite everyone felt positive about the situation that it stunk, but there was control and help.

This time it feels like the residents and businesses are all being left on their own and it is disorganized at best. There is no support or clear answers, the TC hasn’t offered any support in clean up, the actions now are reactive window dressing- (send us your email), a hastily arranged meeting when most people are at work and only had a few moments notice if they were lucky enough to see the email.

[anon-rp24]

[anon-5100]

We all lost power in Sandy most of the state did too and all knew it. But the TC kept us updated, they worked to get charging stations, they did extra things like chipping. They also moved up cleanup day on Irene or Sandy. Forget which.

[anon-rp24]

[anon-7666]

[Stop whining-8s91]

Why is it the Township or the Committee responsibilities to keep the “ I Assume “ adult homeowners notified of The impending weather? Can’t you watch the same weather that they watch? Why is it everyone wants a handout from government? The members have their own personal homes and properties to worry about just like everyone else. If you live in a flood area then you should expect it to flood.

[anon-41so]

No one is looking for a handout. Clean up day is the first weekend of October. The town could have moved the clean up day to this weekend or during the week. Very simple and no extra cost. The Mayor says remediation work is occurring. Drive down Dey Rd and look at the work yard. There is no work going on now.

[anon-rp24]

[anon-1ror]

[anon-4110]

Do you understand what a handout is? It means added spending for one particular group.

Clean up day happens every single year twice a year whether you like it or not. If it is happening October 2 move it up the whole town still can throw their garbage out. The cost is exactly the same to tax payers-no hand out. Now residents who are impacted are paying twice- once on their own to get rid of things and a second time for the rest of town not impacted to get rid of things. I am not impacted, but I see unnecessary wasted spending which drives me nuts.

[anon-463n]