Nakoma Brook runs quietly down from the hills and watershed above Sloatsburg, cutting through The Flats neighborhood and under Rt. 17 until it meets the Ramapo River near Rhodes North Tavern. During times of heavy rains the brook comes alive, sluicing rapidly along its waterway. But this past August, with Tropical Storm Irene, the Nakoma Brook once again topped its banks and swamped poor Brook Park, which still sits in ruins.
Like something from Zombieland, Brook Park appears abandoned, with fences half torn from fallen branches, the basketball court covered with leaves and muck, and playground toys embedded in mounds of sediment near a crevice opened by rushing storm waters.
Sloatsburg Superintendent of Public Works Mike DeMartino said Nakoma Brook, where it runs past the Community Pool at the park, has always been a flood problem. “We replaced a culvert that was damaged during Hurricane Floyd,” said DeMartino, describing how the culvert that channels water under Brook Park was enlarged after Floyd damage in 1999 to help with water flow through. “It’s just a low lying area and floods repeatedly, for as long as I can remember.” Even with the culvert enlargement, the brook once again couldn’t be contained.
DeMartino said applications have been submitted to FEMA, but Brook Park will remain closed until the village can secure those restoration funds.
“The park will be fixed and restored to its proper condition,” said Sloatsburg Mayor Carl Wright, who confirmed that no action will be taken until the village receives the FEMA funds, which are made available to municipalities through various declarations of emergencies. “Over the course of years, we’ve received other funds for storm damage to the park. Hopefully, they will be coming shortly and then the park will be restored and ready for use in early spring.”
DeMartino said that there are three separate but related issues with Nakoma Brook where it meets Brook Park — restoration of the park itself, which is something the village will do and should be completed by spring; long-term mitigation of the Nakoma Brook, which the village and county are working on and includes state funding; and Rockland County Drainage Agency storm damage continuing cleanup.
“We’ve scheduled a few sites along Nakoma Brook for removing trees and floodway cleanup,” said Executive Director of the Rockland County Drainage Agency Vincent Altiera, noting that the park itself is village property and that easements along the waterway near the park are private property, complicating any tree and debris removal. The Rockland County Drainage Agency overseas and manages water flow of nearly 80 miles of county waterways. Altiera said that the agency is currently working with the county highway department to schedule sediment removal on the waterway above Brook Park. “We like to work together with the local towns and villages as much as possible.” Altiera was part of an on-site inspection group that visited the park after Irene, along with Assemblywoman Annie Rabbitt, R-Greenwood Lake.
Small as it is, Nakoma Brook is an instrumental waterway for the health and well-being of Sloatsburg, serving as an important release tributary for United Water. It helps regulate flow from Potake Lake into the Ramapo River, which serves Sloatsburg’s water needs. “The Nakoma Brook has an interesting watershed,” said Geoff Welch, Harmony Hall Curator and a Rockland County Park Commissioner. “The Nakoma Brook drains down from Cranberry Lake and Potake Lake. There’s a complicated agreement with United Water,” he said, “that they can release a certain amount of water from Potake Lake to augment the flow in the Ramapo River. That way, you’re keeping the water going down over the gaging station that’s critical in Suffern because if they go below a certain level — 8 million gallons of flow per day — they’re supposed to curtail the pumping of those wells. That’s a major part of the county’s water supply. And the Village of Sloatsburg pretty much gets its water from there.”
While the village waits for Brook Park restoration funds, plans for additional Nakoma Brook mitigation continue, part of an overall unfinished Rockland County stream mitigation project. Other projects may include replacing the Sterling Avenue Bridge culvert, bank fortification and stabilization, new head walls, and silt removal. All of which takes time, and, according to Superintendent DeMartino, “mounds and mounds of paperwork.”
“FEMA’s been overwhelmed with the storm,” said Mayor Wright, referring to Irene and the massive flooding that took place along the Ramapo and Mahwah rivers. “This was a big big storm for FEMA. They extended deadlines for homeowners because they were being overwhelmed. But we’re also working with the county drainage agency to do some mitigation so that the likelihood of this type of damage being done again is less. In fact, FEMA, when they give the funds, wants to see mitigation. The big thing is to get the monies in your account.”
As DeMartino said, park restoration itself is the easy part. The waiting — on funds, on approval and sign off — is much much harder. So, as spring weather continues this winter, little Brook Park waits for attention and the promise to be made whole again.
