Office park occupants tire of flooding

A morning of heavy rain yesterday once again turned main streets of the Fort Washington Office Park into rivers that swallowed at least one car, caused undetermined amounts of damage to businesses, and triggered frustrated pleas for help from business owners who have endured repeated drenchings over the years.

Throughout the 563-acre complex - built largely in the 1960s and '70s, when stormwater management was not required - entrepreneurs and employees alike converged with vacuums, mops, squeegees, and buckets to deal with the reality of working in the region's most flood-prone office park. Many also brought cameras to document the damage.

"How many times do we have to get flooded around here before they do something?" an angry Savino Costanzo asked as he stood on the edge of a four-foot-deep lake lapping at the front of his Granite Galleria.

On dry days, the area is the low-lying intersection of Virginia Drive and Delaware Avenue, home to a variety of businesses. Yesterday afternoon, an abandoned white compact car sat there with water up to the top of its side-view mirrors.

Its roof bore a neon-green flag printed with one word: "Searched." It was presumably put there by Upper Dublin Township emergency-response teams that routinely check the office park for stranded vehicles in times of heavy rains. Police did not respond to a call for comment.

Within 20 yards of that crossroads is the Tot-Time Child Care Center, which was closed yesterday. A gray, four-inch-long fish swam in front of it. Operators of the facility have said in previous interviews that boats are available for flood-related evacuations.

A few years ago, Temple University's Center for Sustainable Communities did a study of the office park's notorious flooding. It recommended razing all buildings in the park's high-hazard flood zones, and returning those areas to greenways. Development would be concentrated on the high ground.

No action has been taken yet on the study, which Upper Dublin Township commissioned.

By 2 p.m. yesterday, though, township road crews were using front-end loaders on the portions of Virginia Drive where water from the nearby Rapp and Pine Runs had subsided. They were scraping mud off the road, the park's main thoroughfare. The Virginia Drive exit off the Pennsylvania Turnpike had been closed for hours because part of the ramp was under water. So, too, were the turnpike's Fort Washington exit ramps.

Having just dumped a few gallons of water from his wet vac into the mud-caked parking lot of his statistical-sampling company, Dale Kulp, president of Marketing Systems Group, wiped the sweat off his face and looked at the bright side.

When Tropical Storm Allison saturated the region in June 2001, water inside his business was 36 inches deep and he was stranded on top of a filing cabinet. For two weeks afterward, the company operated out of tents in the parking lot.

Yesterday's storms deposited just two inches in the carpeted offices. "Relatively minor," Kulp said.

Dave Malarek, one of the founders of the 14-year-old company, tried to be equally light.

Given that the office would likely "be a little humid" today, he said, he would "perhaps relax the dress code" for employees.

Up the road at Granite Galleria, Costanzo still had not gotten into his showroom to assess the damage. He mentioned the Temple study. The township has contracted with a consultant to study the report further and help build a consensus on how to proceed and how to compensate displaced property owners.

Eyeing the water pooling in front of his business, Costanzo asked: "What are they waiting for?"