The nearly completed Lawrence Village flood mitigation project

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A flood mitigation project that is expected to blunt future storm damage that was caused by Hurricane Sandy has impacted the lives of several Lawrence village  residents.

The nearly $.88 million project aims to reduce flooding in the area that extends from the Lawrence Long Island Rail Road station to Bannister Bay. The work includes the installation of two 60-inch large pipes and backflow-prevention devices.

After federal money flowed to New York state, then Gov. Andrew Cuomo centralized storm recovery and rebuilding efforts by creating the Governor’s Office of Storm Recovery in 2013. The department coordinated the organization of the projects along with the projects subrecipients — the government entities that distribute the money. 

“The Lawrence Pipe Improvement project was a priority project identified and recommended in the Five Towns Drainage Study,” according to a Nassau County official. The Lawrence Pipe Watershed consists of 287 acres with 185 sub-watersheds extending from the Far Rockaway LIRR branch to Bannister Bay. The study identified deficiencies including inadequate drainage system comprising 18 to 30-inch drainage pipes, limited 60-inch drainage pipe, a single 60-inch pipe bulkhead outfall; no protection against tidal wave flooding; and sediment in Bannister Pond.

The project developer is Triumph Construction Corp. Construction was anticipated to get underway at the end of July last year. It was expected to be completed in a year.  Delays in acquiring the state Development of  Environmental Conservation permits delayed expected completion to May 2023. With an expected completion time of May 2023 the project is nearing its completion.

The project benefits include mitigated flooding, improved water quality, and minimized adverse impacts on residents. These benefits will be achieved through new larger diameter drainage piping to collect, direct and distribute storm water, increased outfall capacity to three 60-inch pipes, storm water treatment structures, new check valves and tidal gates at the outfall pipes, and dredging of Bannister Pond at outfall pipes.

For the past nine months construction has occurred on Margaret Avenue and Marbridge road in Lawrence. Despite the stated benefits of the project residents have complaints and aired them at the Dec. 7 Lawrence board meeting

“Our lives have been completely disrupted,” Harold Schertz said. “ I've contacted the county and the county does not respond. Our sprinkler system was broken and we believe we may have foundation cracks.”

Isaac Levy echoed similar concerns. “My particular issue is the banging and the vibrations have gotten much worse lately because they're cracking the middle of the street,” he said.

Mayor Alex Edelman was sympathetic to residents’ woes and assured that the village would do what it can to alleviate any frustrations. “There's no nice way of digging up a street and there's no nice way of putting in sewers,” he said. “There was a lot of flooding in that area and those were the streets that were most heavily flooded during Super storm Sandy. We are towards the end of the project. “It's a part of the contractor's contract to restore the sidewalk, the front lawns, and resident lawns and flower beds. Everything is going to be restored and whatever they're not going to do, the village is going to do.”