Above: Protective "aqua-berm" barriers being inflated with water at the Margaretville Freshtown this morning. Photo by Joe Moskowitz. Used with permission. The berms were later emptied after a Middletown code enforcement officer warned the store that it could be liable for damage the berms caused to other businesses.
The barriers that were installed Sunday night to protect the Freshtown supermarket in Margaretville were removed Monday morning after town officials warned that owners of the grocery could be liable if surrounding buildings were damaged by floodwaters.
The disappearance of the “aqua-berm” barriers became the talk of town Monday, as residents and business owners surmised that Town of Middletown officials forced the supermarket owners to remove the barriers because they were not permitted to have them.
But Pat Davis, the Middletown town code enforcement officer, told Watershed Post that the owners of Freshtown took the barriers down after they were advised of liability concerns.
During a telephone interview, Davis read a written statement prepared by the town attorney, he said. The statement said that Freshtown did not have a floodplain development permit and that “no such application had been made.”
But it went on to say that “at no time were the owners or their contractors told to cease work or remove the berms. The decision to remove the berms rested with the owners...”
The owners were also not written any citations, he said.
Davis said the grocery owners chose to remove the flood-protection system after they were advised that they could be liable for any damage to businesses and other buildings surrounding them.
“This was not something the town gave them permission to do, and they would be liable,” Davis said Monday evening. Davis said the aqua-berm bags were emptied and removed about 10:30 a.m. Monday. Freshtown owners installed the system to protect their store on Bridge Street from the East Branch of the Delaware River, which spilled its banks during Huricane Irene last year and forced the store to close for nine months.
Freshtown owner Noah Katz said he didn't want to talk about the here-now, gone-later berms on Monday night, promising to discuss the situation once Hurricane Sandy had passed.
“Let's hope for the best tonight, that it's not going to flood,” Katz said. “What happened here is not as simple as what people think. The only thing that's important to us is that we get through these next few hours and days.”
