By DONALD WITTKOWSKI
Todd Chamberlain recalled the times that he’s carried his children through water. Not through a stream or a pond or even in the ocean. It was on his street – Waterway Road.
“I’ve waded through the water. I’ve carried my kids through the water when it was too deep to drive through,” said Chamberlain, who has lived on Waterway Road in Ocean City for more than 20 years.
But Mayor Jay Gillian and other Ocean City officials assured Chamberlain and other residents of Waterway Road of plans to greatly reduce the flooding in their neighborhood by elevating the road and making a series of drainage improvements.
“We are going to figure this out. You guys are going to get relief and a better quality of life,” Gillian said during a neighborhood meeting Saturday at City Hall attended by about 40 homeowners on Waterway Road.
Altogether, the project will include raising and repaving the road, installing new drainage pipes and inlets, replacing a check valve to prevent floodwater from backing up onto the street and building a new outfall pipe.
“We’re going to have an improvement from this project – guaranteed,” City Business Administrator George Savastano told the residents.
Construction is tentatively scheduled to begin in September or October. The drainage infrastructure is expected to be completed by the fall or winter of 2022. Road paving will follow and should be done by spring 2023, according to the schedule.
“That schedule is a realistic schedule,” Savastano said when some of the residents expressed skepticism whether the city could complete the project within that timeframe.
The city is in the midst of preliminary work for the project, including obtaining the regulatory permits and completing the engineering. The construction contract must still be awarded.
Bob Korkuch, president of ACT Engineers Inc., an engineering and environmental consulting firm helping Ocean City with the project, broadly estimated the construction cost will range between $1 million and $2 million.
The existing drainage system for the neighborhood consists of an aging, 12-inch pipe and is inadequate to protect Waterway Road from flooding, Korkuch explained.
In addition to a greatly upgraded drainage system, the new project will also include elevating the road from 6 to 12 inches. Curbs and sidewalks will be raised, too, Korkuch said.
The Waterway Road neighborhood is a sliver of land that juts out into the back bay off of Bay Avenue near 32nd Street. In that location, it is susceptible to tidal water and storms.
While recounting how he has waded through the floodwaters at times carrying his children, Chamberlain noted that homeowners have been waiting a long time for drainage improvements. He said he is relieved that their patience will finally be rewarded. He also complimented city officials for the project.
“It’s come a long way,” Chamberlain said. “As much as we want this to move quickly, it just takes time.”
Joanne ElKadi, another resident of Waterway Road, said she experiences only a small amount of stormwater on her part of the street, but expressed sympathy for the homeowners who have to deal with more serious flooding.
“It’s good that we’re all coming together to make sure we’re as best-served as possible,” ElKadi said of the overall benefits of the drainage project.
After listening to the presentation by city officials, ElKadi believes that floodwater will no longer “get in the way” on the street.
Originally, city officials were planning to undertake a smaller flood-mitigation project for Waterway Road, but decided to expand the scope when they realized they could do it for only a small increase in price.
“We’ve expanded it to go all the way to the cul-de-sac, said Vince Bekier, the city’s director of Operations and Engineering.
The project also includes elevating private property along the street to make the homes less vulnerable to flooding. Savastano and Bekier said the city will enter into written agreements with homeowners to guarantee that any construction damage to their property will be fully restored when the project is completed.
“We will restore your properties completely,” Savastano said.
Bekier explained that any temporary inconvenience caused by the construction will be outweighed by the overall benefits of the project. He also said that the city has done other projects of this type, so homeowners should not worry about their property.
“Whatever we disturb, we will restore,” Bekier said. “That should be the least of your concerns.”
City officials also spoke of the possibility that even more extensive improvements – including a stormwater pumping station – could be built in the future as part of a second phase of flood-mitigation measures on Waterway Road.
“The infrastructure we put in now could be tied into a pump system in the future,” Savastano said.
