News

By Dan Moffett

    Ocean Ridge commissioners are preparing to take a close look at the town’s storm-water drainage issues, but there are two schools of thought about how extensive that examination should be.
    Commissioner James Bonfiglio wants a deep dive, believing it’s time for the commission to review the comprehensive drainage study that was done in 2000 and see if it still holds water. Bonfiglio thinks the commission should consider bringing in outside engineering consultants for an independent assessment of the town’s systems.
    “I think we’re going to need to update the engineering study,” he said. “It’s 16 years old and I think it’s something we will have to look at.”
    Mayor Geoff Pugh doesn’t think Ocean Ridge needs a costly new study. He says the town has several isolated drainage problems, and the commission should target those and fix them.
    “I can count them on my hand — that’s how many problems we have,” Pugh said. “Major issues? I don’t see them.”
    Pugh said, during the commission’s May 2 meeting, that even after a heavy downpour, water dissipates quickly and “no street is flooded more than an hour.”
    The mayor and the commissioner found common ground, however, when it comes to the Woolbright Detention Pond: Something needs to be done about it.
    The retention area between Ridge Boulevard and Woolbright Road was carved out a decade ago to collect water during heavy storms and then gradually funnel it into the Intracoastal Waterway. But residents complain that water now sits in what has become a standing pond that is a breeding ground for algae and mosquitoes — a problem of particular concern, given the growing public health worries about the mosquito-transmitted Zika virus.
    Don Magruder, who lives on Ridge Boulevard, said he believes the water moves up and down with the tides. In February 2015, the commission approved spending $15,000 to regrade the berm around the pond and remove vegetation that was blocking discharge pipes. But complaints from neighboring residents have continued, and Pugh said he agrees something is wrong because he has seen small fish swimming in the water.
    The mayor told Town Manager Jamie Titcomb to meet with Town Engineer Lisa Tropepe and develop a list of all drainage issues in Ocean Ridge, including the pond problem, for the commission to consider at its June 6 meeting.
    In other business:
    • Pugh was the commission’s unanimous choice for another year as mayor at the April 4 meeting. Commissioner Richard Lucibella, who nominated Pugh, said he’s doing “an exemplary job” for the town.
    “Thank you for the vote of confidence,” Pugh said. “You know I’ll do the best job I can for this town.” Pugh, 53, who has been on the commission since 2003, was first named mayor in 2012, succeeding Ken Kaleel.
    The commission also unanimously chose Lucibella as vice mayor. Steve Coz was sworn in to his first three-year term on the commission after ousting Lynn Allison in the March election.