A project meant to protect a Hampton neighborhood from routine flooding is moving forward after concerns about unanticipated costs seemed poised to postpone the work.
About once a month in Hampton’s Meadow Pond neighborhood, residents deal with flood water.
“This neighborhood, when it floods, can go days with having water on the roads, making it unsafe to travel, very dangerous in winter conditions,” said Jen Hale, Hampton’s Director of Public Works.
It can happen on sunny days, when high tides bring water washing over the roads. Full moons and storms make things worse. And with climate change driving more extreme weather and rising sea levels, town officials know flooding concerns would likely get worse.
The town made a plan to help drain that water out, collecting it in pipes and catch basins and pumping it downstream of Meadow Pond, which sits at the back of the neighborhood. But when bids came in for the project, the estimated costs were much higher than expected.
Hale worried the project would need to be postponed. Even with $2 million in federal money provided through the state’s Department of Environmental Services, Hampton couldn’t afford the work. Town officials worked with contractors to scale back the project a bit. But what will make it possible, in the end, is extra money left over from the American Rescue Plan Act.
Hale said Executive Councilor Janet Stevens helped make a plan to use $1.3 million in extra ARPA funds towards the project. The governor and Executive Council will vote on a proposal from the Department of Environmental Services to dedicate that money to the project this week.
“The amount of respect that we have for the federal and state process right now and these grant programs is beyond comprehensible,” Hale said. “It would not have been possible without them.”
That extra funding is a relief, she said. But the struggle of trying to mitigate flooding in one neighborhood may be a sign of things to come.
“You're doing coastal resilience to protect large investments, whether they're private, whether they're infrastructure, our roadways, our utilities, people's homes,” Hale said. “If you want to protect all of that development and economic revenue, it comes with a cost.”
Hampton is also starting other efforts, including a parking pass program that allows residents to move their cars to higher ground when flooding is likely, and a voluntary home elevation program that can help people raise their homes.
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