A Possible End of the 'Road to Nowhere'

Finally, removing the "Road to Nowhere" seems to be getting somewhere.

Mamaroneck’s board of trustees voted Monday to join with Harrison to remove a chunk of Glendale Road that intrudes into the Mamaroneck River. The road—long-abandoned as a Harrison-Mamaroneck link—is considered a major contributor to flooding along the town borders, especially in the Harbor Heights neighborhood.

Grateful Heights residents applauded the board’s vote, which followed both years of entreaty for flood relief and an evening of appeals to go forward with Monday’s action.

The project—delayed by an expected $150,000 price tag—was made possible only after George Mgrditchian, owner of K-Con Site Developers Inc. on Orienta Avenue in Mamaroneck, offered to do the job for less than a third of the estimated cost. His charge for removing some 20 feet of road jutting into the river and replacing it with a stone retaining wall was $35,000, plus permit or bonding costs, if any.

That incremental remediation, it was estimated, would lower the river’s base flood elevation by roughly six inches, enough to spell the difference between a lawn under water or a living room floor, some residents said. A 10-year former member of the zoning board, Mgrditchian is currently chairman of the village Republican Party.

His offer and the board’s action are now a matter of record. Still, a number of steps remain before work begins on the road removal. For starters, although Mgrditchian’s proposed charge is far below the job’s estimated cost, the project still must be put out for competitive bid. 

While the road’s remains—all that was left after a bridge spanning the Mamaroneck River washed away—cause flooding in the village, they rest on land belonging to the Town of Harrison.

Harrison Supervisor Joan Walsh, on vacation until Monday, could not be reached for comment. The town did, however, approve an agreement with Mamaroneck to remove the road at its last public meeting last week.

It can’t come quickly enough for the beleaguered residents of flood-prone Harbor Heights, who lined up Monday to beseech the board to act. Joseph Silvestro, who lives on Ellis Place, near the river’s edge, told the trustees he’s suffered floods six times in eight years. “The anticipation of a flood,” he said, “is worse than the flood itself.” Silvestro went on to describe the debris carried along by the runaway river, saying he once saw a refrigerator floating by.

Susan Sidel, a Chestnut Avenue resident who said she has sustained thousands of dollars in flood damages as a result of Mamaroneck River rampages, implored the trustees, “You must really, strongly consider [taking the proposed remediation step.]” “I’ve had it [with the repeated flooding],” she said. “It’s just too stressful.”

Her Chestnut Avenue neighbor, Mary Stein, agreed, saying, “Please, help us.” Stein described a river bifurcated by the road obstruction, containing the waters of one within its banks but forcing the other into “our yards.”

“Floods come from the second river,” she said.

Insisting she had “dramatically overpaid” for her Urban Street home, based on false assurances about flooding, Judy Siegel said she would sell her home today for half its value. “I join my neighbors in begging you [for relief],” she said.

Peggy Jackson, a member of the Flood Mitigation Advisory Committee, said, “That was my refrigerator, by the way, that floated down the river.”

After the board authorized Village Manager Richard Slingerland to proceed with the IMA, the Harbor Heights residents, clustered in their own neighborhood of the village courtroom, broke into polite applause.