GUILDERLAND — The stretch of Western Avenue running in front of Stuyvesant Plaza has for years been plagued by chronic flooding, on occasion leaving plaza customers and employees stranded for hours, according to Guilderland Supervisor Peter Barber. 

Barber wrote in a recent memo to the town’s Industrial Development Agency, “The cause of this flooding is the tremendous amounts of stormwaters from a wide area (about 860 acres) that flow into the Town-owned McKownville Reservoir between Route 20 and Stuyvesant Plaza.” 

The reservoir’s limited capacity, according to Barber, “is insufficient to hold the stormwater from the increasing frequency and force of storms.”

Guilderland has identified part of the problem as state-owned culverts under Western Avenue not sufficient enough to handle the flow from the “highly-urbanized” 860-acre watershed — which encompasses Crossgates Mall and Commons, the New York State Thruway, as well as other privately- and publicly-owned are a properties — approximately 90 percent of which is located “upgradient,” or uphill of Stuyvesant Plaza. 

The problem, according to Barber’s memo, has been exacerbated by an additional 800-foot stretch of undersized culvert located on private property between Western Avenue and an open channel that directs stormwater under McKown Road, eventually flowing into the Hudson River. Increasing the size of the 800 feet of culvert would only push Guilderland’s problem downstream, to property owners in Bethlehem and Albany. 

Barber wrote, “Guilderland has submitted multiple applications for State funding of a proposed project to increase the size of culverts,” but attempts so far “have been unsuccessful, likely because, other than the Reservoir, the Town owns no stormwater systems in that area.”

The town decided recently that a new approach was needed to alleviate the problem, according to Barber, “it was determined that the impounding of water before it reaches the Reservoir should be considered.” 

To assess if impoundment is a viable option, engineers would need to conduct a comprehensive and expensive drainage study to analyze the “various water sources impacting the reservoir, explor[e] of potential impoundment locations, and examin[e] other possible solutions.”

The study has an estimated cost of $500,000, 

To help defray some of the cost, the IDA on Oct. 22 voted to contribute $50,000 toward funding the study, while Assemblywoman Patricia Fahy is working to secure $300,000 in grant funding from New York State. 

A long history 

Water has long been an issue in McKnowville, and one chronicled extensively for decades by the McKownville Improvement Association. 

Between 1959 and 1973, according to the association, the hamlet’s water supply came from McKownville Reservoir, located on 8.4 acres of town-owned land at 1515 Western Ave., bounded by Route 20, Stuyvesant Plaza, and the National Grid right-of-way. 

In 1973, the reservoir was taken out of regular service, but kept for fire-department use and as a back-up water supply for the area. 

With the start of Crossgates Mall construction in 1981, “untreated runoff from its parking areas and roofs enter[ed] the Krum Kill drainage,” according to an association history of McKownville Reservoir Park, and “the reservoir subsequently could not be used for water supply without major expenditure for improved treatment and filtration; essentially this meant it would never be considered again as a source of domestic water.”

Starting around 2010, flood-related shutdowns of Western Avenue declined some due to a $600,000 project that transformed the reservoir into a wetland retention pond; the site also became a town park the same year. “While the project provided some relief,” according to the association, “engineering reports indicate[d] it fell short of providing a comprehensive solution to the area’s flooding problems.”

It was also around 2010 that planning began for a multi-million-dollar project to address chronic basement flooding in McKownville. The project would replace “water main and house connection pipes in the area of McKownville north of Western Avenue,” while there would also be the installation of  “a new system of storm drains and stub connectors for the same area, and a main storm drain under Western Avenue and down McKown Road to the Krumkill West Branch.”

But it would be another seven to eight years before a shovel was plunged into the ground. In 2017, the town received a $2.5 million grant from New York State that, when combined with Guilderland’s $5 million in earmarked funds, allowed work to start in 2018. The project hit a hurdle in 2020 when undisclosed gas lines were discovered on McKown Road that, when coupled with $1.4 million in “more conflicts [that] were encountered,” halted work until the 2022 construction season. 

The project finally wrapped in 2023.