Assemblywoman Amy Paulin has come through for residents of New Rochelle, Scarsdale, and Eastchester by securing a $1 million State grant to help pay for flood mitigation at the Hutchinson River. This press release has more.
The neighborhoods surrounding the Hutch experience some of the worst flooding in our region, but addressing the problem isn’t easy or cheap – culverts need to be replaced, and the carrying capacity of the Hutch itself (which is little more than a creek at this point) needs to be restored. Making things more even more complicated: the Hutch is technically private property, divided up among the adjoining homeowners.
The total cost of a comprehensive flood mitigation project is estimated to be about $5 million, half of which would be covered by the County. With the State’s $1 million, the local share should be around $1.5 million. That’s still a big chunk of change, but more realistic. Preliminary engineering was completed a few years ago. The next step is detailed design.
Assemblywoman Paulin deserves thanks for her great advocacy on this priority.