By Justin Ritchey

A Vulnerable Community

Burlington New Jersey is a small and vulnerable coastal community. With the threat of rising sea level and increased flooding events, Burlington will have to seek for innovated solutions to protect its future and current residents. The city’s small tax base, lack of resources, and new investment opportunities makes gray infrastructure and managed retreat options unrealistic. Therefore, the future of Burlington’s storm water management is through green infrastructure. However, implementing and managing such a system may be difficult and will not solve all of Burlington’s water issues.

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Context of Burlington NJ

Burlington New Jersey is a coastal city of around 10,000 residents, located between Camden and Trenton New Jersey. The city is regionally connected by Route 130 in the South and the River Line Transit along Broad Street. Burlington sits along the Delaware River across from Bristol PA, with Assiscunk Creek running through the city. The city also has a 400 Acre Burlington Island along its riverfront and JFK Lake as a water basin. In terms of Burlington’s climate, the region receives mostly wet summers with drier winters. The community receives more rainfall compared to the national average and has its wettest month in July with an average of over 5 inches of rain. With this we can conclude that Burlington is a wet climate.

Because Burlington is along the riverfront, it is a low-lying region. Burlington’s lowest land elevation is concentrated along JFK Lake in Greenlanders Park and Assiscunk Creek. Resulting, run off and flooding occurs along these areas. Along with the topography the city’s soil type is mostly sandy, which has high permeability. Overall the surrounding region of Burlington consists of wetlands and low-lying areas that receive a lot of rain fall and flooding throughout the year. This environment will play a huge factor in Burlington’s water issues.

In terms of demographics Burlington has a median household income of around $50,000, less than the average of the Township and the County. The city is dominantly a low-income community with decreasing household income and a low tax base. About 50% of the city’s land is tax exempt and around 40% of the land is owned by the city. The city also had a census tract designated as an opportunity zone by the state. The opportunity zone encourages new development by the government giving out tax reductions to property owners within the selected census tract, typically in low income areas. Burlington’s opportunity zone is along Assiscunk creek with a 30% poverty rate. Thus, Burlington City and New Jersey are promoting new development and growth along Assiscunk Creek and the Delaware River in low elevated areas. This could increase the number of vulnerable residents in the future as climate change exacerbates.

Burlington City, too much water?

Since Burlington receives a lot of rainfall and is close to water bodies, the city has invested in storm water management. Because Burlington is an old city most of its infrastructure was built in the 1960’s. The community’s small tax base has prevented a lot of upkeep resulting in deteriorating and outdated infrastructure. Like many old cities in the Northeast, Burlington has a combined sewer resulting in overflow in high rainfall events. While the combined sewer experiences much stress from storm water overflow and pollutes the Delaware, the main issue is the seawall. The city’s seawall was developed in the 1960’s with the development of the riverfront promenade along the Delaware. For decades the seawall protected the downtown and nearby historical neighborhoods. Today it is deteriorating from erosion and crumbling causing the city to sink. Over a hundred holes were found in the foundation of the seawall a few months ago after an underwater study was done after the promenade started to crack (Burlington County Times). 800 ft of the riverfront is fenced off for repairs, however the project will cost around 1.8 million dollars and currently the city is seeking for funding from the state though grants or loans. With the rainy season of summer approaching, the city is vulnerable by a collapsing seawall that exposes the heart of the city.

Contributing to the city’s vulnerability with its crumbling seawall and outdated storm water infrastructure is flooding. Recently FEMA redid their flood plain maps revealing that about 75% of the city is within the flood plain. This includes the opportunity zone and historical downtown. Basically, all new development within the opportunity zone and downtown area will be under threat. As well as the community cannot afford to retrofit their houses, relocate or repair their houses from storm water damage. The city has storm water management requirements for property owners in the zoning ordinance, however they haven’t been updated recently according to the new flood plain maps. Currently Burlington mostly relies on gray infrastructure like storm sewers to manage runoff and storm water. However, this is not properly managing the large amount of runoff that is occurring. In August 2017 a major rainstorm caused massive flooding in Burlington City that concentrated along High Street and Route 130 in the low-lying areas. The water basin of JFK lake was unable to collect all the water and storm runoff from the highway and creek caused the highway to fill up like a river, trapping cars. Trees, cables and basements were also flooded. Fortunately, no injuries or deaths occurred, and evacuations never had to take place. However, with Burlington’s high rainfall, location along two water bodies and climate change the city will remain vulnerable in the future.

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Along with storm water and flooding, sea level rise from climate change is also a concern. By 2100 most of the city will be within the sea level during a major storm. Most of the city’s public buildings like city hall will be under threat, as well as the opportunity zone, and historical center. Along with flooding and sea level rise Burlington has many pollution sites. Burlington in the 19th and 20th centuries was an industrial port and home to US Pipe and Foundry. Therefore, many of its former industrial sites are now brown fields and remain contaminated. With flooding events, these sites could pollute the river and water supplies for the city. This could happen by runoff from rain fall washing pollutants from the ground into the river. Thus, creating a threat to the water quality of the city and ecosystem. Nearby are vulnerable wetlands and marshes that could be negatively affected. The city and township gets its water from the Delaware. If hazardous pollutants like lead wash up in the river, the entire region’s water supply could be endangered. There are 40 known contaminated sites, many along the highway that experiences a lot of flooding. Most of these sites are within low lying regions.

The Green Infrastructure Solution

In terms of storm water management and flooding there are three main solutions, gray infrastructure, managed retreat, or green infrastructure. Gray infrastructure would require building levees, storm drains or other massive concrete structures to move and trap water. This strategy is often very effective in keeping water away. However, these systems are often very expensive, timely, and have environmental impacts. They often result in flooding other areas and even disrupt entire ecosystems. Next is managed retreat, which involves relocating residents out of vulnerable flood prone areas to higher ground by using incentives and buying out homeowners. However, this takes a very long time and is unrealistic in this case. 75% of Burlington is within the flood plain and the opportunity zone within the city is encouraging new development. For managed retreat to work in Burlington, the state would have to buy out the land from homeowners because the city would not have the capital to do so. However, the state designating the city as an opportunity zone strongly shows re-commitment to Burlington. Thus, managed retreat would not be a viable option. And our last solution is green infrastructure. This would strategically construct engineered green infrastructure systems to slowly filter water into the ground and storm sewer, therefore reducing runoff and flooding. In Burlington’s case fixing its current gray infrastructure including the sea wall, while minimizing gray infrastructure through green infrastructure investment would be the best solution. Green infrastructure is ideal because it is cheaper and faster to construct and more environmentally friendly compared to gray infrastructure. Burlington is currently seeking funding for seawall repairs; therefore a solution of green infrastructure should be explored more.

Looking at image 11, you can see natural drainage sites and green space connecting the river to the creek. This served as a natural drainage basin between the river and the creek, however parts of it has been paved over by the highway. The main site of investigation, as discussed earlier is Route 130, which cuts this natural system in half and in return floods a lot because of its location in a low elevated area close to the creek and JFK lake.

To fully understand how green infrastructure system could work on Route 130, image 13 shows a potential master plan of the highway. Looking at existing route 130 (image 12), some open space has been reserved for storm water, but most of it has been paved in impervious surfaces. The re-design will re-link this broken system with specific green infrastructure site interventions. Image 13 shows a full build out along 130 using green infrastructure systems along the edges of the central block to redirect water flow. And providing normal green space to absorb extra water. Looking at a specific block within the master plan, you can see the design intervention more closely. The highway has four oversized lanes and a shoulder lane along it, leaving an opportunity to shrink the highway. This area can be taken back and turned into a green system. With this area as an opportunity zone and with new investments coming in, these sites will eventually be replaced. When they do, new zoning and codes and enforce more storm water management.

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Because money is an issue in Burlington, and green infrastructure must be specially site focused, the type of green infrastructure matters. Bioswales are often cheaper, however has a lesser volume and require a lot of space. They also filter containment and should be located along brownfields and high traffic areas. Therefore, bioswales can take advantage of the massive space given away on the southern edge of the highway. Rain gardens have a higher volume intake and use less space but are more expensive. Therefore, they are used in the smaller areas along the highway. Infiltration basins also have a high volume of water like rain gardens but have a higher impact for flood reduction. With this in mind, infiltration basins would probably be the most efficient along the highway. Although a variety of green infrastructure types should be used according to the specific location and cost. The render below shows what rain gardens could look like integrated in the streetscape. Not only would it improve storm water, it would improve the streetscape and walk ability of the area. Route 130 also has many traffic accidents and using green infrastructure could improve the streetscape by providing pedestrian barriers, decreasing the crossing width and slowing cars down. Therefore this street redesign could solve other transportation issues besides just storm water.

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Along with the design is implementation. As discussed, Burlington has a low tax base therefore lacks internal funding. Thus, the city of Burlington must seek outside help. Such options includes the New Jersey Department of Transportation and Transportation and Community Development Initiative (TCDI). There are currently TCDI grants available through the Delaware Valley Regional Planning Commission such as Environmental Infrastructure financing. While grants are competitive, Burlington’s opportunity zone draws attention and the state already set its eyes on Burlington. Besides grants policies can also be improved to enforce this plan. Such as changing the storm water requirements to require green infrastructure. Tax incentives to encourage green infrastructure on private property and zoning current vacant land as green space to absorb water. Many of the buildings along Route 130 are outdated, under-utilizing the site or vacant. As new developers move in, the city could establish urban design standards and new site plan recommendations followed by new zoning to implement green infrastructure. However, implementing green infrastructure won’t be easy since the city already has to seek a grant or loan to fix the sea wall and the process to manage the highway redesign would involve many players like the state, since NJ DOT controls Route 130.

Conclusion

Overall there are advantages and disadvantages to green infrastructure as the solution. First, it is cheaper than gray infrastructure, increases property values, reduces stress on the current storm sewer and reduces overflow. It also reduces the urban heat island effect and can filter out pollutants in the water and reduce runoff. And it enhances the public realm and pedestrian safety. However, green infrastructure is high maintenance. Even if the upfront cost was paid for by a grant, the city cannot afford to maintain it in the future unless its tax base increases. Rain gardens and bioswales have to be replaced and cleaned out to keep their effectiveness. The high traffic of Route 130 will also increase the debris that could clog infiltration basins and put pressure on the system. It is also very site specific and cannot just be built anywhere. This could be an issue of site control and private property. It is also very long term. Because it relies on outside funding, gaining control of private property, and zoning, it will take a long time to implement. It is also low flood prevention; therefore, it could not prevent flooding in extreme flooding events and will not phase sea level increase. Burlington is located in a wet climate surrounded by wetlands. Burlington’s environment is meant to flood, therefore green infrastructure cannot completely prevent flooding. While this solution is not perfect and will not completely fix the problem, it will reduce or prevent minor flooding and increase the quality of life generally. It may not prevent major flood events, but with Burlington’s lack of funding and environmental costs of gray infrastructure, this is the best solution.

Sources

1. burlconj.maps.arcgis.com. Accessed April 23, 2019. http://burlconj.maps.arcgis.com/apps/Viewer/index.html?appid=4c71988c7c35415ba3c96334ca0e9896.
2. “Collector, Water and Sewer.” Collector, Water and Sewer, REVENUE DIVISIONFinance DepartmentCollector, Water amp Sewer OFFICE ADDRESS City Hall Municipal Offices525 High StreetBurlington NJ 08016 OFFICE HOURS M ndash F 9am ndash 5pm TEL 609 386 0200 ext. Accessed April 23, 2019. http://www.burlingtonnj.us/departments/finance/collector_water_and_amp_sewer.php.
3. Data Access and Dissemination Systems (DADS). “American FactFinder.” American FactFinder, October 5, 2010. https://factfinder.census.gov/faces/nav/jsf/pages/index.xhtml
4. “Green Infrastructure.” Starkville: Mississippi Department of Marine Resources, n.d.
5. Levinsky, David. “Burlington City Water Continues to Test High for Chemical Compound.” Burlington County Times. Burlington County Times, September 20, 2018. https://www.burlingtoncountytimes.com/news/20180920/burlington-city-water-continues-to-test-high-for-chemical-compound.
6. New Jersey Geographic Information Network. Accessed April 23, 2019. https://njgin.state.nj.us/NJ_NJGINExplorer/index.jsp.
7. “Quick Links.” City of Burlington. Accessed April 23, 2019. http://www.burlingtonnj.us/.
8. Wpvi. “Flooding Submerges Streets, Damages Homes in South Jersey.” 6abc Philadelphia, August 4, 2017. https://6abc.com/flooding-submerges-streets-damages-homes-in-south-jersey/2274042/.