HOBOKEN— A team of Dutch architects and engineers may have the answers for Hoboken's flooding issue— which could also mean more federal funding for the city.
The plan — the brainchild of the Office of Metropolitan Architecture and the Royal HasoningDHV, both based in the Netherlands — suggests several different modes of defense to guard Hoboken from flash flooding and storm surges.
The design calls for parks, buildings and greenways to double as barriers against rushing waters, as well as the addition of pumps and draining systems. For example, part of the plan includes a redevelopment of the Hoboken Terminal, as well as a greenway around the city that would double as a park and rainwater storage.
The underlining motto for the team's design is: “resist, delay store, discharge, ” according to OMA's website.
The team's design was selected Thursday as a finalist in the Rebuild by Design contest, which was launched in June by the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development and President Barack Obama's Hurricane Sandy Rebuilding Task Force.
From the more than 140 teams from 15 different countries that submitted proposals, ten teams were ultimately tasked to develop projects to protect communities against future natural disasters.
The winning team's design may then be implemented with HUD disaster recovery grants, as well as other public and private- sector funding, according to HUD.
Each of the ten teams submitted four designs, of which HUD selected one to move on to the next stage of the contest. Contest judge's selected OMA's plan for Hoboken to move on to the final round.
From now through March, the team will work to determine how its plan could be implemented. In April, the contest's judges will select one of the 10 designs, according to the contest's website.
A winner is expected to be selected in April.