Salem Observer : Flooding

Town to buy, demolish 9 Haigh Avenue homes

Salem Editor — Wed, 28 Oct 2009 18:02:00 GMT

BY DERRICK PERKINS

After two decades of flooding, Norbert Pestana was awash with relief when he learned town officials want to buy and demolish his Haigh Avenue home.

Since 1983, Pestana has watched as the home where he and his wife Helen raised their family suffered seven 100-year floods. After Mother’s Day flooding in 2006 left his basement full of water yet again, Pestana banded together with neighbors and petitioned the town to buy them out.

With help from a $1.889 million Federal Emergency Management Agency grant and $700,000 match from the state, selectmen are bringing an end to a 30-year-old problem.

Nine homes at the end of Haigh Avenue, including Pestana’s, will be purchased and demolished at no cost to the taxpayer. The state will then use the 5.4 acres as drainage for Interstate 93.

It’s a bittersweet end to a lengthy battle for Pestana, vice chairman of Salem’s Flood Mitigation Action Committee, who watched the value of his home sink with every inch of rising water.

“It’s somewhat of a relief, but it’s one of those things,” he said. “The problems that were here needed to be dealt with, but we’re saddened that we have to leave.”

Neighbor Louise Loguidice shared Pestana’s mixed emotions. Loguidice didn’t have any intention of leaving her home until after her children graduated from high school. But even then, how could she sell a house that was at times under water?

“Who would buy a home that floods every couple of years?” she asked. “Your home is worth what someone will pay for it.”

With one child still in high school, Loguidice wants to stay in Salem. Still, she supports what the town has done. Spending her golden years sandbagging her home was not Loguidice’s dream for retirement.

“Hopefully, I’ll find something on dry land I can afford,” she said.

Demolishing the homes is expected to start in the spring and officials plan to turn the land over to the state within 18 months of November.

With nine homes down, that leaves 14 more to go, said Selectman Everett McBride. He has been involved in the project since the 1987 floods. An application for another FEMA grant will be readied as the town moves ahead with the project’s first phase, he said.

Shore Drive fixes coming

Salem Editor — Wed, 23 Sep 2009 18:03:00 GMT

BY DERRICK PERKINS

After almost 10 months of negotiating with the town over flooding on his property he claims began after Shore Drive was reconstructed, Jerry Parenti has mixed feelings over the solution selectmen offered him on Sept. 21.

According to Parenti, his troubles started around Thanksgiving of last year when rain water run-off from the newly rebuilt roadway began collecting in his front yard rather than reaching a catch basin at the edge of his property. With the road now pitched toward his Arlington Pond beachfront, the water that did not settle in his yard washed away his beach sand as well, Parenti said.

When he approached the town about the problem, Parenti said he was given a swale – essentially a ditch that would carry the water to a catch basin – and when that failed to alleviate the flooding he was promised the installation of a buried pipe. That plan met with complications after the contractor widened the road by about a foot and a half during the final coating of asphalt by Parenti’s estimation that would have necessitated uprooting a Japanese elm tree on his property to work.

Fed up, Parenti took his problems to selectmen earlier this month. On Sept. 21 the governing board opted to direct the town manager to proceed with plans to have the drainage pipe installed after the contractor removed the extra width of asphalt and work out additional details to prevent the further erosion of his beachfront.

Still, Parenti said the experience had been frustrating.

“I’m happy, but I’m not happy,” Parenti said as he made his way out of town hall.

“I’m going to be working with the town manager until they come in and take care of it.”

Town Engineer Robert Puff told selectmen that while the solution was a fair mitigation of the problem, Parenti was receiving the “diamond treatment” and said that he believed a swale would correct the situation.

“My suggestion is to have them cut back the paved area to the appropriate width, regrade the swale, restabilize it with loam and seed. The work is in error of the contractor, so it’s at no cost to the town,” he said.

According to Puff, the installation of a drainage pipe would cost the municipality somewhere between $4,000 and $6,000.

Parenti is not the only resident of Shore Drive coming forward with concerns that the reconstructed road has negatively affected their property.

Selectman Patrick Hargreaves said at the Sept. 21 meeting that he had received a number of concerns from residents via e-mail. According to Puff, the engineering department expected to have a final list of problems sent out to the contractor, F.L. Merril, by Sept. 22.

Selectmen prepare for floods

Salem Editor — Wed, 02 Apr 2008 19:37:00 GMT

BY JIM DEVINE

SALEM – To Selectman Chairman Elizabeth Roth, spring floods are a matter of when, not if. Nearly two years after the Mother’s Day flood that closed dozens of local roads and displaced entire neighborhoods of residents, Roth said she’s instructing emergency departments to prepare for flooding as historic snowfall levels affect waterways this spring.

“On a day like today, it seems like a flood is the least of our worries, but who knows once the spring rains come,” she said. “We should prepare for it as a ‘when’ and not an ‘if.’”

In the 2006 flood, Salem spent $458,539 during the emergency and aftermath before it began applying for reimbursements from FEMA.

Residents should also prepare though, Roth said, to make sure they are ready ahead of time with pumps and other material to lessen damage to their homes.

Roth said directions from the town’s Flood Mitigation Action Committee should make a difference to improve services and communications often already taxed during extended emergency periods as residents may need to respond to neighborhood evacuations.

“The Reverse-911 call service did not work as effectively as it might have,” Roth said. “That was something that stuck in my mind after the Mother’s Day floods, and I know FMAC is addressing that.”

The committee, created a year ago to begin assessing emergency services and prepare guidelines to minimize damage from future flooding, has looked at several areas to improve the flood situation in the Spicket River watershed.

Among communications guidelines requested by the committee are flood updates and road closure information to be available on the town Web site. On March 15, taxpayers at the second deliberative session supported a plan pushed by the committee to spend $100,000 to clean out and assess catch basin and drainage infrastructure within the town.

The cleanup and studies are just initial steps to make the town eligible for additional funds from FEMA in the event of a flood, committee member Norbert Pestana said on the day the project passed.

Citizen articles nixed in Salem

Salem Editor — Wed, 20 Feb 2008 20:58:00 GMT

BY JIM DEVINE

SALEM -- Selectmen have voted against supporting a pair of citizen petition projects to repair a bridge and a road at a price of nearly $600,000.

Residents of Ball Avenue pressed selectmen at their Monday, Feb. 11, meeting to support paving and drainage work on their street, saying the project has been on the town’s road work schedule for many years.

“It’s been quite a while, so it’s due,” said Philip Cammarata of 21 Ball Ave. “Overdue.”

Cammarata, a 13-year-resident of the street, said he was reluctant to petition for the $167,900 project but the road’s “deplorable” shape warranted attention. “It looks like it hasn’t been paved in 40 years,” Cammarata said.

Before unanimously voting not to support the petition, selectmen told Cammarata and other residents that the Ball Avenue work is scheduled for 2009. Cammarata was happy to hear the road had been pushed up in the schedule but said he would still like to see voters approve the petition in March.

“I’d like to see it pass this year, but I’m satisfied they moved it up to 2009,” he said.

Selectmen also voted against recommending a $430,000 petition project presented by Dianne Paquette of 58 Pelham Road to repair the culvert at Pelham Road and Commercial Drive.

The culvert, which was part of a $3.8 million town-wide bridge repair bond article that failed to garner support last year, has contributed to flooding on neighboring properties, Paquette said.

“Our properties, because of the bridge, become catch basins as water sits there for days,” she said. Since the Mother’s Day flood of 2006, Paquette said, the town has been better about clearing debris from the small culvert but a permanent solution is needed.

While selectmen Patrick Hargreaves and Arthur Barnes supported the project, other officials were reluctant to see the culvert expanded, which may cause a rush of water further down the waterways in town. Without a hydrology study of the town’s waterways, Selectman Michael Lyons said he didn’t want to rely on “instinct” while solving the problem.

Paquette, however, said the project’s need was intuitive and that it shouldn’t have to wait since there’s no guarantee of a water study in coming years.

“I just need to know how many floods I need to be prepared for,” Paquette said. “I’m sure you are thinking a year may not be a long time, but we just look at it as three or four more floods we have to endure.”

Though Paquette’s plan would enlarge the culvert to bridge specifications to qualify it for state aid, there was no confirmation that the town would be reimbursed for the project.

“It isn’t a bridge now so it’s not going to qualify,” Selectman Everett McBride said.

Selectmen voted against recommending the article, 3-2, with selectmen Patrick Hargreaves and Arthur Barnes voting in the minority.

State volunteerism on the rise

Salem Editor — Wed, 01 Aug 2007 18:03:00 GMT

Editor’s Note: During the month of August, we will spotlight volunteers in our towns. This is the first in a weekly series celebrating those who work, without pay, to better their communities.

BY SUSAN WARE

Volunteers step up when a natural disaster strikes, such as when spring flooding affected local communities. But are the nonprofits working quietly in the background that depend on volunteers to stay afloat getting enough help?

Volunteering is growing in New Hampshire, according to David Eisner, CEO of the Corporation of National and Community Service based in Washington, D.C. The group oversees such volunteer programs as Habitat for Humanity, Teach America and Americorps, a sort of domestic Peace Corps, among others.

Eisner’s organization has done extensive research on a state-by-state basis as to where volunteerism levels are right now, where the growing trends are and where the need is. The latest study details volunteering in 2006.

According to Eisner, last year New Hampshire had 330,000 volunteers in the state dedicating 41.1 million hours of service.

“Volunteerism in new Hampshire is doing terrific. It is really exciting, because New Hampshire is in the top five for growth in volunteering since 1989,” said Eisner.

One area with a tremendous need nationwide, said Eisner, is volunteers offering professional services, like lawyers working pro bono and teachers tutoring. The Granite State is one of 17 states with professional services in the top four most popular areas of volunteering, something we should be proud of, said Eisner.

One area that hurts local nonprofits, said Eisner, is professionalism in management. Many nonprofits in general are poorly run and it causes attrition rate to be high, which is costly, said Eisner.

“New Hampshire does not rank well in terms of retention of volunteers. In 2006, only 63 percent of New Hampshire residents returned to volunteer a second year,” said Eisner.

On average, nonprofits lose a third of volunteers every year. One of the focuses of Eisner’s team is to help nonprofits manage themselves more professionally in order to be more efficient and retain quality volunteers.

“Nonprofits need to use volunteers to do meaningful work. Retention is highest when volunteers are using their brain as well as brawn,” said Eisner.

The flip side is nonprofits in the state seem to be able to continually recruit new faces, which Eisner refers to as a “leaky bucket.”

“Today, people have no patience for inefficiency, even in a charity. People won’t stay with an organization that makes them wait or is unorganized. They want their time to be respected,” said Eisner.

A sign of the times

With volunteering at a 30-year high, Eisner points to a disenchantment with the current administration and the war in Iraq as the main reasons for the jump in volunteering.

“When a person feels that hunger isn’t going to get solved at the policy level, they are likely to work in a soup kitchen where they can work on it at an individual level,” said Eisner.

A trend that Eisner is watching carefully is the growing number of Baby Boomers who are volunteering.

“Today, 50 percent more Baby Boomers are likely to volunteer than their counterparts in the 1970s, ’80s and ’90s,” said Eisner.

This means there is a growing social capital which this country has never seen before.

“Most haven’t retired yet, but when they do, they will be predisposed to volunteering and have even more time on their hands,” said Eisner.

Like Baby Boomers, another growing trend in volunteering is among 16- to 19-year-olds. According to Eisner, this group is twice as likely to volunteer as any of their peers over the past 30 years.

“America is creating a generation that rivals the generation of people born before World War II, where civic engagement was a focus,” said Eisner.

This is the generation that Margaret Harlan, president of the Hooksett Friends of the Library wants to attract.

A booster group whose goal is to supplement the libraries budget, Harlan said there is basically a core of five volunteers who do it all, and every one of them is over 50 years old.

“We really want to attract the younger generations, because that is how we will be successful in the long run,” said Harlan.

Desperate for volunteers, the Friends of the Library are able to do only a portion of what they would like to do, and what the library needs, said Harlan.

“It is frustrating to me that people don’t seem to find the library important. It’s very easy to get burned out when you don’t have help,” said Harlan.

According to Eisner, trends in volunteering are more pronounced in New Hampshire and it is critical that nonprofits prepare themselves.

“This is very good news for nonprofits in New Hampshire,” said Eisner.

Flood committee recommends planning, education and aid

Salem Editor — Wed, 18 Jul 2007 17:00:00 GMT

BY MATT HERSH

Along with several other groups’ suggestions to improve Salem’s flooding problems, the town’s Flood Mitigation Action Committee has offered its own series of recommendations.

Community Development Director William Scott presented selectmen with the recommendations at their Monday, July 16, meeting, where officials supported them unanimously.

The group was formed after a group of about 85 citizens from the Haigh Avenue neighborhood petitioned the town in November to address flooding. Since that time, they have been working with Scott to develop a comprehensive approach to combat the town’s problems.

Scott said the committee’s recommendations are broken up into three categories – outreach and education, capital improvement development and homeowner aid.

Included in the outreach and education recommendations is a new Web site residents could view prior, during and after a storm for information about what is happening in town and what steps should be taken.

The site would direct residents to flooding-related resources including electricians, mold removal services and contractors.

An information telephone line would also be created that residents could call when other modes of communications are shut down or unavailable during an emergency situation.

“They could find out what streets are closed, where power is out, where emergency centers are and things of that nature,” Scott said.

Another key aspect of the plan is workshops designed to provide information about what to do in case of an emergency and to increase awareness about flooding issues.

The group also recommended preparing a three-year cleaning and repairs program to be included in the town’s capital improvement program (CIP). This program would focus on cleaning catch basins, culverts and other drainage structures.

The CIP aspect of the committee’s proposal also includes studying the impact of development on flooding and establishing a strategy for flood storage.

The final part of the committee’s recommendations is geared toward creating a prioritized list of residential properties that are repeatedly flooded. By doing so, each home could have a plan in place about how to act during a future flood.

Scott said by studying each property, the town would be in a better position to apply for grants from the state and federal governments.

Members of the Haigh Avenue community, who have been heavily flooded in the past, came out to support Scott’s presentation.

“We’ve been very lucky because we’ve had some great people volunteer,” said Norbert Pestana, vice chairman of the committee. “Our work isn’t finished but we’re ready to make these recommendations.”

Selectmen also praised the group’s work.

“I think the committee has done a great job in putting this together,” said Selectman Michael Lyons. “This is very effective.”

Could be worse – Rain batters area, but damage not like 2006

Salem Editor — Wed, 18 Apr 2007 17:14:00 GMT

BY MATT HERSH AND DARRELL HALEN

After hours of torrential rain and heavy winds on Monday, April 16, Salem residents were reminded of the severe flooding which occurred less than a year ago.

The water caused several streets to be closed throughout the town including a section of Main Street in front of the central fire station, where about 6 inches of water flooded the street.

Sections of a mobile home development off Route 28 were also flooded. Some of the homes and cars there could be seen with about a foot of water surrounding them.

Gusty winds also caused power outages throughout Salem and its neighboring towns. At the peak of the outages 1,332 Salem residents, 952 Pelham residents, and 112 Windham residents were without power, according to David Graves, a spokesman with National Grid.

“The numbers have been improving as the winds have died down,” he said.

Deputy Fire Chief Michael Wallace said his department received several calls throughout the day.

Five additional firefighters were called to work, most of whom spent time pumping water from flooded areas and clearing branches, Wallace said.

“It’s been a little busier than during a snowstorm but not too bad,” Wallace said. “We’re holding our own.”

The heavy storm occurred only weeks before the one-year anniversary of Salem’s Mother’s Day flooding of 2006, where many residents were forced out of their homes and others were without power for days.

With more rain in the weather forecast, Wallace said the department will be prepared to respond to any additional calls.

Lyons, residents look for another bridge solution

Salem Editor — Wed, 04 Apr 2007 23:10:00 GMT

BY MATT HERSH

A recount of a failed $3.8 million bridge repair warrant article yielded no changes despite the hopes of some concerned Salem residents.

Though the recount did not change the outcome of the original vote, Selectman Michael Lyons said he intends to present a bridge repair plan to his board in an upcoming meeting. Lyons said his plan would be to set money aside to repair one bridge yearly.

The warrant article would have given $3 million to repair four town bridges and the roads leading to them. Another $800,000 would have gone toward a hydrology study to assess flooding issues near the bridges.

Had the article passed, officials would have given the money to repair bridges on Haverhill Road, Pelham Road, North Main Street and Emerson Way.

Despite the urgings of selectmen and some residents at the town’s deliberative session and other meetings leading up to Salem’s election, the article fell just short of capturing the needed two-thirds majority to pass.

Initially, the article received 2,070 favorable votes on March 13. At the recount, it received 2,063 votes in favor but needed 2,093 to pass.

Lyons said he didn’t expect the recount to overturn the original vote since Salem’s recounts typically haven’t changed anything.

Still, he said he’s been thinking about his new proposal since the article failed.

“I’m concerned about our infrastructure,” he said. “The bridges have to get done because they don’t last forever, and we have to have some kind of plan.”

Rather than bring another bond proposal before voters next year, Lyons said he’s optimistic a one-bridge-per-year proposal wouldn’t burden taxpayers as much.

Lyons said he’s not sure what the cost might be to repair a single bridge, but he hopes to plan it out with the rest of the board.

“I’m only 20 percent of the board,” he said. “This is just one man’s idea, and I’m open to modifications.

It’s just getting the ball rolling, and I probably haven’t thought everything through.”

Should voters approve a yearly bridge repair program, Lyons said there is the potential that Salem could receive up to 80 percent reimbursement from the state. This money would likely take several years to reach Salem though, he said.

Though Lyons is hopeful of getting his proposal moving, residents of the Haigh Avenue area who suffered heavy flooding during last May’s floods said they were upset the recount didn’t change anything.

“It’s disappointing, but I’m glad we did (the recount),” said Marcia Corbett, a resident who gathered enough signatures to initiate the recount. “Some of these bridges are in dire need and I don’t know how Salem is going to go forward.”

The hydrology study attached to the article would also have helped address Salem’s water flow problems, she said.

Still, she and other residents are continuing to look into the issue. Currently, Corbett is working with Dennis Burke, another resident who believes the Methuen Falls Dam is somewhat responsible for Salem’s flooding problems.

Burke and other residents may file a complaint with the state about the dam.

Haigh Ave. flood victims look for help

Salem Editor — Wed, 20 Dec 2006 15:53:00 GMT

Homeowners say plan needed for the future

BY MATT HERSH

Selectmen have given Haigh Avenue residents the nod to officially form a committee to determine what can be done to alleviate flooding issues near their homes.

The committee will consist of four Haigh Avenue residents, three residents from other flooded Salem streets, one planning board member, one conservation commission member and a selectman.

At the Monday, Dec. 18, board of selectmen meeting, Community Development Director William Scott presented selectmen with a position paper put together by himself and several Haigh Avenue residents.

The position paper highlighted the residents’ hopes and expectations for alleviating a flooding situation that has caused damage to many of their homes over several years.

Among the strategies cited in Scott’s presentation were developing town-wide flood mitigation ordinances, improving drainage in several areas, and locating funding for flood mitigation.

Since the project is getting started at the end of the year, applying for grants is not viable at the present time, Scott said.

There are a few potential grant opportunities Scott said he intends to pursue, but he’s not hopeful they’ll receive any money since the deadline is tight.

After a detailed study of the area has been completed by engineers, grants might be easier to attain, Scott said.

Rather than focusing on finances, Scott said the key to making progress is developing a list of priorities.

“There’s no single solution,” Scott said. “It’s a multi-layer process.”

Part of this process, Scott said, will be working with selectmen and other town officials.

Several Haigh Avenue residents who were present at the meeting said they were happy to finally get the ball rolling on a problem that has plagued them for years.

“We have long endured problems on Haigh Avenue,” said Norbert Pestana, a resident whose home has flooded more than five times over the past few years. “We ask that the whole town helps us now that the problem has gotten so severe.”

Since the street is located between the Spicket River and the Policy Brook, it is highly susceptible to flooding problems.

Pestana and many other Haigh Avenue residents have experienced heavy flooding over the years, especially during the heavy rains of last May.

Scott called the formation of the committee an important step for Haigh Avenue, citing the ongoing cooperation of the residents.

“We have a good relationship with people who want to get involved,” he said.