Flooding near Stuyvesant Plaza a problem that goes back years
Guilderland town officials say a collapsed culvert is the latest culprit
GUILDERLAND — When heavy rain falls, flooding outside Stuyvesant Plaza will likely follow. The intersection of Western Avenue and Fuller Road has been closed multiple times in the last several months when the streets are overrun with runoff, closing the entrance to the nearby shopping plaza and other businesses.
“Whenever I see it rain heavily, I just anticipate we may not see customers for a few hours,” said Susan Novotny, owner of plaza business The Book House.
Barry Richman, owner of the plaza’s oldest operating store Pearl Grant Richmans, said the issue goes back to the plaza’s inception. Sometimes it would go years without the water backing up, but flooding has become more frequent again in the past year, he said. Novotny said flooding seemed to be alleviated for some time before becoming more frequent in the last few years.
The intersection, located near on-ramps to interstates 87 and 90, is frequented by Capital Region commuters.
The latest trigger for flooding is temporary, town Supervisor Peter Barber said. A stormwater line collapsed about a month ago in the back parking lot of a Burger King along Western Avenue. It’s caused rainwater to back up onto the road. Construction equipment could be seen in a fenced-off area of the parking lot, cutting off access to the restaurant’s drive-thru.
Because the culvert is on private property, it is the owner’s responsibility, Barber said. The state Department of Transportation officials say it is not in their jurisdiction. The property owner did not
return a call for comment.
Before the culvert’s collapse, Barber said flooding had become less frequent following the completion of a new stormwater system. The project, which was completed last May, was designed to help homes in the nearby Mckownville hamlet, Barber and Mckownville Improvement Association president Ellen Manning confirmed.
Flooding on Western Avenue stretches back for years. In 2009, the town received $600,000 in grant money to alleviate flooding. The project altered the Mckownville reservoir and pipes carrying its runoff.
Built on the Albany Pine Bush, the Mckownville neighborhood includes retail stores, establishments like Stuyvesant Plaza and Crossgates Mall, and homes mostly dating back to the 1940s and 1950s, according to a 2010 study. The reservoir — a waterway that dates back two centuries and is no longer used as a water supply, according to the Mckownville Improvement Association — sits to the northwest of the intersection, along the southwest side of the plaza. Water flows southeast, either by natural or man-made means such as roadside ditches and a 3-by-4-foot box culvert under the road to the Krum Kill, a tributary of the Normanskill, according to the study. “The hamlet currently has a limited stormwater infrastructure system. Street drainage is managed by overland flow to catch basins, dry wells and wing gutters that either recharge into the groundwater table or direct the flow to Fuller Road and Route 20,” the study said.
The analysis, conducted for the town by Delaware Engineering, suggested a stormwater system using detention basins and pipes to carry water under Western Avenue, as well as lowering roads so water would flow away from nearby residents. In 2015, the town secured $2.7 million from a state grant to cover the estimated $6.7 million in upgrades, eventually obtaining at least $3.25 million in grants, according to a 2017 project fact sheet. Following a delay in 2020, documents show it was completed last year.
Barber said the town has also applied for grants to install larger culverts, but have so far been unsuccessful. He hopes the federal Bipartisan Infrastructure Law could help fund flood mitigation.
For business owners like Novotny and Richman, the flooding remains only a minor inconvenience.
“Nature has its way, and we all have to put up with a minor inconvenience once in a while,” Richman said.