Lawmakers favor deeper look at storm protections

City lawmakers are considering a memorializing resolution calling on the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers to study further its options for coastal storm protections in New York Harbor and the Hudson Valley.

During a meeting of the Common Council’s Public Safety/General Government Committee on Wednesday, members moved forward a resolution asking the Army Corps of Engineers to perform further studies to ensure that shoreline-based measures for coastal storm protections would, in fact, protect New York Harbor and the Hudson Valley from flooding.

The resolution also opposes two proposed plans for in-water barriers that would “entirely close off the harbor and [Hudson] River from the Atlantic [Ocean] during storm events and would alter river and tributary flow patterns at all times.”

The resolution also asks that further planning to manage the risk of coastal storm damage take into account climate change and its effect on sea level rise.

The resolution must still go to the full Common Council for a vote. The council meets again on Wednesday, Sept. 12.

In response to Superstorm Sandy in 2012, the Army Corps of Engineers started its “NY/NJ Harbor & Tributaries Coastal Storm Risk Management Feasibility Study,” according to information from Riverkeeper, a non-profit environmental organization. Riverkeeper said the goal of the study was to reduce the risk of coastal storm damage to communities and to critical infrastructure.

Through the study, the Army Corps of Engineers has come up with six alternative conceptual designs.

Several of the alternatives, according to Riverkeeper, involve giant inwater barriers throughout New York Harbor that “would choke off tidal flow and the migration of fish — damaging the life of the Hudson River Estuary forever.”

During Wednesday’s committee meeting, Alderwoman Andrea Shaut, DWard 9, said the council had to act on the memorializing resolution at its next meeting because the Army Corps of Engineers is taking public comment on its study only until Thursday, Sept. 20. Shaut said it’s important for the city to adopt the memorializing resolution.

Council Majority Leader Reynolds Scott-Childress, D-Ward 3, said he felt it was “essential” for the city to act on the resolution.