Broken levees great for swamp, bad for businesses

Weeks after floodwaters receded from most of North Jersey, a corner of the Meadowlands is still swamped -- and the source of a conflict between local officials and a leading environmentalist.

Call it a tale of two floods.

The April 15 nor'easter opened several breaches in levees along the Hackensack River in Carlstadt. To conservationists, it's been a godsend. In one blow, the storm jump-started efforts to restore 600 acres of degraded marshlands.

For nearby businesses, it has been the headache that won't fade. While waters had retreated considerably by the end of last week, companies on the edge of the marsh were still contending with flooded parking lots. Instead of delivery trucks, ducks and fish were navigating the loading docks along Barrel Avenue, Jomike Court and other roads.

"The place is a damn mess," said John Kindegan, who owns 15 industrial buildings in the area.

What to do about the levees -- and whether the wetlands and businesses can be saved at the same time -- could come to a head today. The Meadowlands Conservation Trust, the non-profit that owns the marsh, has called an emergency board meeting to discuss whether to plug the holes.

The storm broke dikes on two properties, one owned by the trust and a neighboring tract to the north owned by Williams, a natural gas company. A Williams representative said Friday that the company would fix its levee as quickly as possible.

But the chairman of the Meadowlands Trust isn't in any rush. Reopening the land to saltwater tides could go a long way toward achieving the group's main goal, said Bill Sheehan: killing off the weeds that now choke the marsh and restoring native plants, fish, fowl and other animals.

"Opportunities like this come along once in a lifetime," Sheehan said. "If they fix these levees and are committed to keeping them maintained, it'll be an uphill struggle the rest of my life to reopen them."

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