Secaucus Takes On Hartz Mountain Over Flooding

SECAUCUS, NJ — Remember that devastating flooding that put downtown Secaucus literally underwater and submerged dozens of homes this past September? Well, the town of Secaucus has since taken several steps to try and prevent that from happening again, and many of those steps involve holding the town's corporate landowners responsible for their part of flood control.

At a December Council meeting, Secaucus' town lawyer, Kenneth Porro, said that Secaucus is "aggressively" bringing action against certain properties that do not have flood remediation in place.

But one of the biggest private landowners in Secaucus, Hartz Mountain Industries, hasn't been as responsive as Secaucus Mayor Mike Gonnelli said he would like.

One of the first steps Secaucus took was the identification of a series of drainage ditches that run from Golden Avenue out to the Hackensack River. Those ditches all sit on privately-owned land; over the years, they have become clogged and do not allow water to drain. Flooding was particularly bad this past September in the area around Golden Avenue, Humboldt Street and Minnie Place, all low-lying parts of town.

"The drainage ditches run from the back of Golden Avenue and they empty out to Sachs Creek, which empties out into the Hackensack River," said Gonnelli. "They're not draining effectively at all. When you have a ditch and it's loaded with debris, there is no place for the water to go."

The Golden Avenue pump station, which sits at the end of Golden Avenue, is working "perfectly fine," Gonnelli said, and was not the reason for the flooding. There was simply no place for the water to go from there, because the drainage ditches were clogged, he said.

The town of Secaucus sent letters to all the corporations that own land the drainage ditches flow through, such as Equinox, Century 21 (the clothing store, which has a major warehouse in Secaucus) and CoreSite Data Center. Most wrote back and said they would clear the ditches, at a cost privately incurred by the companies.

"We sent letters out to everyone along the line and quite a few have responded already - Equinox, CoreSite," said Gonnelli. "We also got Century 21 to clean out a detention basin that sits behind them, which was huge. That basin holds three million gallons of water, and it hadn't been cleaned out in years. It's costing them $80- or $90,000 to do it."

But —

"The one we haven't heard back from yet is Hartz Mountain, which is a little concerning," he said.

The town of Secaucus and Hartz have always done their best to be on good terms. Hartz is the largest private landowner in Secaucus, owning the land on which Harmon Cove townhouses and towers sits, and Harmon Meadow. Hartz bought up much of the land on the south side of town back in the early 1970s, when that part of Secaucus was nothing but swamps and meadowlands. Today, it is an industrial area, home to companies that pay a big chunk of Secaucus' tax base. In years past, Hartz and Secaucus have worked together to prevent flooding in Secaucus, with Hartz privately incurring some of the cost.

However, "the ditches are a secondary problem," Gonnelli continued. "A bigger problem is a drainage pipe that comes out of Metro Way and was built by Hartz in the early '70s. Well, now we're in 2019 and quite honestly that pipe is really gone."

Gonnelli said Secaucus has notified Hartz by mail about the problems, and gotten no response.

"The next step is we'll be issuing summons to them," he said. "I have a meeting with them on Thursday, so let's see how that goes. I'm hoping it will be positive."

Top photo of Plaza Center flooding provided to Patch. All other photos taken by Carly Baldwin/Patch.

Ongoing Patch reporting:

Dramatic Photos Of Secaucus Flooding Tuesday

Secaucus Businesses, Residents Suffer Thousands In Flood Damage