City Council awarded a nearly $10,000 contract for a flood hardening study of Hamilton Stage.

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At its Oct. 10 regular meeting, the governing body approved a resolution (AR-210-23) to authorized $9,500 contract with H2M Associates.

The Melville, N.Y-based firm, which also has New Jersey offices in Butler, Parsippany, and Wall, will provide professional architectural and engineering services associated with a flood hardening study” for the Hamilton Stage, based on a proposal submitted Sept. 14, according to the resolution.

In addition to one meeting with the city, professional design services, according to the proposal, will include:

• Review, verify and document existing building envelope materials;
• provide recommendations as to the best way to “dry floodproof” the existing facility, “based on FEMA and ASCE 24 standards;” and,
• Provide a report identifying preferred flood mitigation measures with a basic budgetary cost opinion.

UPDATED, 11/1/23: A preliminary report is expected before the end of the year, according to William George, the city’s public relations coordinator. The study will allow the city to take “a realistic look at the scope and extent of improvements that would be required to make the building resistant to flood waters,” George said via email. He noted that the building is not within a 100-year flood hazard area but did sustain significant damage during Hurricane Ida due to the Rahway River “swelling far out of its banks.”

As part of the investigation, a scope of works and budgetary estimate would be prepared which would be submitted to FEMA for review, and if repairs and costs meet their criteria for mitigation coverage, George said the project may qualify for u to 90 percent reimbursement.

It’s not certain what types of improvements would need to be made but George noted an example of exterior access doors as an area that would need some form of flood barrier installed for when the Robinson’s Branch of the Rahway River is anticipated to flood.

The 200-seat Hamilton Stage was closed for months after flooding from Hurricane Ida in 2021. The 14,000-square-foot facility also includes a rehearsal hall, flexible 50-seat public space and dressing room. In August 2011 — before the Hamilton Stage was built but after the former Hamilton Laundry was razed — the area suffered severe flooding as a result of Hurricane Irene.

The concept for Hamilton Stage dates back many years. In 2010, City Council approved $8.5 million for construction and development of the facility. That funding originally was for a 1,100-seat amphitheater on the site of the former Hamilton Laundry and to renovate the former Bell Telephone Building into a black box theater. Those plans shifted in early 2011, with the black box theater moving ahead but a 115-space parking lot instead of an amphitheater on the adjacent site. Renovations to the former Bell Building began in 2011.

Check out posts here and here dating back to 2008 for some photos and background on the Hamilton Laundry property.

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