Preserve Graydon Coalition's meeting on March 23, 2010

Preserve Graydon Coalition

Two-year construction was planned

Ping-pong table needed Parks and Rec would like a ping-pong table for Graydon. If you have one to donate, let us know: [email_address] We will coordinate with Parks and Rec to pick it up.

Graydon Photos for Calendar
Let us know at [email_address]
We’ll need written releases from anyone recognizable in the photos

Graydon Pool Committee
Met 10 times over 7 months
Suzanne a member since October 2009
Experts presented many, many ideas in water treatment and pool design

Committee Accomplisments
We’re tackling all the major issues at Graydon
Natural chemical treatment plan
In addition to chlorine
Improved waterfowl action plan
Improved grade of sand for water clarity
And more—all without a Request For Proposals (RFP)

Why is there a push for RFP?
It is unnecessary if water quality is the true goal
We’re making dramatic progress without it
Top experts are happy to share their knowledge for free
We’re already achieving excellent water quality without an RFP

We’re told RFP is a casual thing
This is what Suzanne is told:
The RFP is not a request for constructing a new facility, but merely a way of “getting all sorts of ideas that we might be unaware of”
That’s hard to believe
Engineers say this RFP does one thing: solicit proposals for a new facility
It does not ask for ideas; only designs for a new facility with specific costs attached

The Council can reject the RFP
Or it can issue the RFP but reject the designs that come in
But who will be on the Council then?
We hope, the pro-Graydon candidates (whom you’ll meet later) but we must be prepared
Election: May 11
Cronk/Dowd want a “change” at Graydon
Paul Aronsohn has been outspoken about a concrete pool
3 votes would decide

RFP is step toward contract for concrete facility
Expensive: at least $8m, probably much more
Insensitive with the economy and job cuts being contemplated

Our response to RFP
If a Council vote is planned, we will ask you to protest
We will let you know
Graydon’s new water treatments make it clean. We don’t need an RFP for that

Water treatment plan
AQ-C28
Bio-organic catalyst
Destroys organic material
In 2010 will be used before season begins to clean the sand bottom
It also removes biofilm

What’s biofilm?
Where 99% of bacteria hide
That means only 1% is usually destroyed in any pool
Chlorine can’t get to the 99%
Unless AQ-C28 is used, that is
Then even smaller amounts of chlorine can work efficiently to kill bacteria that were “hiding”

Visibility improved with AQ-C28

Trihalomethanes (THMs)
Formed when chlorine and organic material combine
Possibly carcinogenic in high amounts
Standards for drinking water <= 80 ppb
No standards for recreational bathing (pools) yet
Concrete pools usually don’t test for THMs
Graydon is tested because DEP cares about the groundwater
So Graydon’s water has an extra measure of safety
See next slide for 2009’s excellent lab reports

Excellent THM test results for 2009
Safe, low readings even with August’s chlorine pump malfunction. ZERO in June/July

Waterfowl management
2009: used trained dog service in summer
They scare the geese away
It worked so well that…
2010: dogs to be used year-round
Ducks
Please don’t feed them
Please throw food scraps in garbage cans

Heavier sand = clearer water
Graydon’s traditional light, fine sand got churned up by swimmers, causing cloudiness (turbidity)
Larger-grained sand will be used this year
It is heavier and will settle more quickly
We’re looking forward to seeing the resulting clarity

Disinfection “ to free from infection, especially by destroying harmful microorganisms”

Graydon seems to meet that definition
“ to free from infection, especially by destroying harmful microorganisms”

But I just read…
“ The Ridgewood Pool Project recommends that the Village of Ridgewood convert the Graydon facility to a traditional swimming pool, thereby allowing disinfecting chemicals to be used against bacteria in the water.”
RPP Final Report, July 1, 2009

We checked the claims
We asked the Village for any documents indicating that Graydon cannot be treated for bacteria.
The response: “no document” indicates it.

But what about disinfection? Is that different?
“ The Ridgewood Pool Project recommends that the Village of Ridgewood convert the Graydon facility to a traditional swimming pool, thereby allowing disinfecting chemicals to be used against bacteria in the water.”
RPP Final Report, July 1, 2009
Graydon’s bacteria readings are low, very low, so what’s the problem?

RPP’s logic: chlorine is not a “disinfecting chemical”
The chlorine permit at Graydon specifies algae control. It doesn’t mention disinfection.

I get it!
Oh, so even though chlorine is a chemical that disinfects, it’s not a “disinfecting chemical.”
Clever!

Don’t fall for word games
If anyone tells you that Graydon isn’t disinfected, or that it can’t be treated for bacteria, look them in the eye, tell them you saw the excellent test results.
The Village Health Department has all the records, so check with them if you have any questions.

Water Safety

Ripple effect
Even in a “clear” concrete pool, ripples make underwater activity invisible
Phenomenon is well known to lifeguards

Finances

$millions were planned for 2009/10

Finances
Graydon Finances
In 2009 the Village subsidized Graydon by about $140,000. If divide by 25,000 residents = $5.60/person (tax-deductible, so is actually less)
Paramus’s 2009 concrete deficit: $300,000
Proposed RPP concrete pool finances
Even if succeeded in getting 6000 members * $150/badge = $900,000 revenue - $633,000 bond payments = $267,000 for operations
Stony Brook costs $717,100/year.
In that case, deficit of $450,100.

Village debt service is already high
2008: debt service third costliest non-school Village service

Graydon badges in 2010 Membership is key to sustaining Graydon

BUY a badge
GraydonPool.com
We are working with the Village
Show your support, civic pride. Protects village from flooding, too
Support Graydon with a badge
Show the Village you care in these tough economic times

Graydon web page
We anticipate more information added by Village soon
Page could describe Graydon and tout its improvements, for example. Stony Brook’s site does that
We will help if asked

Badge rules
Ridgewood, Midland Park, Ho-Ho-Kus
No early bird for Midland Park and HHK
Other towns: eligible if sponsored by resident of one of the three towns above
“ Sponsor” friends from other towns. Up to 250 badges

Environmental Regulations and the Mystery of the Ho-Ho-Kus Brook Graydon Pond controls floods and is hydraulically associated with groundwater and the adjacent HHK Brook DEP protects these functions

Origins of Graydon Pond
Was a wet, marshy area
Watering place for farm animals
1910: Samuel Dayton Graydon donated land, including section of Ho-Ho-Kus Brook, to Village
Officials dreamed of a “Municipal Lake”
1926: Dredged to create ice skating pond
1931: Dug deeper for swimming
Samuel D. Graydon

Applicable regulations
Flood Hazard Area (100-year flood limit)
Permit required to do any development here
“ Zero net fill” requirement must be met
If you add material, must remove equal amount
Storm Water Management
Permit required if impervious area increased by more than ¼ acre
State Open Water
Graydon behaves like a natural pond, filling to level of groundwater
Permit required in order to fill in State Open Water

Ridgewood has a flooding problem
Buildings and paved surfaces prevent rainwater from percolating into the ground
Water drains over land instead
It goes into the Ho-Ho-Kus Brook, which overflows its banks
Development has occurred in the natural flood plain of the brook

Flood Damage Ordinance
Ordinance No. 1914, Chapter 154: (http://www.ecode360.com/?custId=RI1200)
The flood hazard areas of the Village of Ridgewood are subject to periodic inundation which results in loss of life and property, health and safety hazards, disruption of commerce and governmental services, extraordinary public expenditures for flood protection and relief and impairment of the tax base , all of which adversely affect the public health, safety and general welfare.
These flood losses are caused by the cumulative effect of obstructions in areas of special flood hazard which increase flood heights and velocities and, when inadequately anchored, damage uses in other areas. Uses that are inadequately floodproofed, elevated or otherwise protected from flood damage also contribute to the flood loss.
[therefore, this ordinance will…] Ensure that those who occupy the areas of special flood hazard assume responsibility for their actions.

Graydon is in Flood Hazard Area
Specifically, within the flood fringe and 100-year-flood limit
During a big storm, the brook will overflow into these areas
Let’s look at the big DEP flood map
(Sorry to those reading this later at home)

Graydon is anti-flood resource
Emergency Services department is discussing the draining of the pond before big storms as part of Emergency Operations plan
Graydon then becomes a stormwater management basin
Graydon can protect life and property year-round
For example, pond happened to be drained before the Nor’easter of March 12-13, 2010

Lots of water, March 14, 2010

Flood Hazard Area rules
FHA limit (100-yr flood line + 25% in area) since 2007
Why new FHA rules?
Because of all the recent floods
35% of NJ is in a flood zone
“ Flooding is NJ’s #1 Natural Hazard.” – FEMA

Zero Net Fill in FHA
"Fill" (verb) To deposit or place material on the surface of the ground and/or under water.
"Fill" (noun) The material being deposited or placed. Fill includes, but is not limited to, concrete, earth, pavement, rock, sand, soil, structures or any stored material such as buiding material, construction equipment, landscaping material, piles of soil, stone or wood, trash, vegetation in planters and/or root balls, and vehicles. Fill does not include vegetation rooted in the ground, whether naturally occurring or planted
"Hydraulic capacity" means the ability of a channel, flood hazard area or structure to conduct water. Hydraulic capacity is a function of cross-sectional area, hydraulic friction, shape, skew, slope and the presence or absence of obstructions.

What research did the Village do?
Village representatives, including Mayor Pfund, met with consultant LAN Associates and DEP Land Use in June 2008 to determine broad parameters for what could be built on the Graydon site
LAN said the Village could build a concrete pool if it:
used the summertime water level as starting point for net fill.
could remove soil from Maple Park property to balance the addition of fill at Graydon
OR lower the summertime water level of “pond feature.”
They claimed Graydon is an “isolated bowl.”
We believe Graydon Pond is not isolated.
It’s connected to the underlying aquifer (groundwater) and very likely the brook as well.

Connection to Ho-Ho-Kus Brook
The HHK Brook is protected by DEP
It is a tributary of the Saddle River, a Category One waterway
Is Graydon connected to the Brook?
In 2008, the Village’s environmental consultant told the DEP “no.” We did our own research.

DEP map shows a diagonal blue line

Blue diagonal line with aerial photo

“ Unnamed tributary” to the brook?

We checked old maps for clues
1930 photo: Notice the bend of Ho-Ho-Kus Brook

Old maps show different shape
1881 topo-graphical map shows brook’s straight line, not a bend

1906 vs. 1911 (Sanborn maps)
1906: straight line. 1911: bend

Our hypothesis
Graydon Pond is where the brook was before 1911
Where the brook once flowed, a vestige remains
This vestige manifests as a preferential pathway (that diagonal blue line) for the brook’s water to flow as groundwater and feed the pond
This implies a hydraulic connection between Graydon and the Ho-Ho-Kus Brook
Not ordinary groundwater—a “preferential path”

Water follows the most direct path
If you were the brook, which underground path would you take?

Field tests can confirm hydraulic connection
Advance soil borings
Inject dyes into the groundwater
Look for stream-bed soils under the pond
It’s expensive but the only way to be sure
We would ask the Village to do this prior to considering any permit applications

What these regulations mean
Strict rules might very well prevent any concrete facility at Graydon
Even if something could be built, the design options for a concrete pool at Graydon would be severely limited
Any design that could get approved would be aesthetically and functionally compromised
Example: depth limited to 4 feet, in one rendering
If permits were somehow obtained, the Village would lose valuable stormwater management capacity. That means more flooding.

Cautionary tale
Oregon town built concrete pool over an aquifer

Daria’s flood in ‘99
Vesta Court, approaching flood waters.
They shot video starting while water was 15’ away till it was 5’.
Then packed up children and left!

Two candidates for Council
(in alphabetical order)
Tom Riche
Bernie (Bernadette) Walsh
They are running as individuals
Both want to keep Graydon natural

Register to vote

Here’s the application

Spread the word— support our cause
Shop at GraydonStore.org

Questions
[email_address]
Join e-mail list: http ://www.PreserveGraydon.org/join
Donate http://www.PreserveGraydon.org/donate or PO Box 354, Ridgewood, NJ 07451

Preserve Graydon Coalition's meeting on March 23, 2010

by Graydon Pool on Mar 23, 2010

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Preserve Graydon Coalition’s meeting on March 23, 2010 — Presentation Transcript