Village, town to apply for flood-mitigation grant

The village will work with the town on an application for up to $99,000 in state aid to identify infrastructure at high risk of being damaged by flooding.

The money would come from the state Department of Environmental Conservation’s Hudson River Estuary Program.

“It’s been a very effective tool for helping communities make hard decisions about how to spend money for mitigating flood hot spots, whether it’s bridges or culverts,” watershed advocate Mary McNamara told Village Board members at a meeting Monday.

The grant is being offered for the first time outside of the New York City watershed, and McNamara said the village could, in its application, emphasize protection of its reservoir in the hamlet of Blue Mountain, about 6 miles outside of the village.

“It’s a first-time grant that has no match, so it’s a completely free grant,” she said. “It’s a wonderful opportunity for communities to give it a try to see how it works.”

The funding program is being administered in cooperation with the New England Interstate Water Pollution Control Commission, which was established in 1947 under federal regulations to encourage cooperation between states when conducting environmental projects.

“The goal of this project is to collect, assess and provide information to communities to help them address flooding vulnerabilities and mitigate flood impacts through measures that maintain, improve and restore natural processes and recognize the value of local wetlands and forests in a watershed,” the commission states. “The watershed to be assessed does not need to include a public drinking water source, although its inclusion is preferred.”