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North Jersey officials marked the Oradell Reservoir Dam's 100 years of providing drinking water to Bergen and Hudson counties on Wednesday.

“The dam and the reservoir that it creates provides a really reliable drinking water source," said Alan Weland, the vice president and general manager of Veolia New Jersey, the for-profit utility that operates the reservoir and provides drinking water to nearly 1 million customers in North Jersey. Without it, he said, North Jersey "as it exists today couldn’t be the way it is.”

Bergen County Executive James Tedesco called the dam an “essential component of New Jersey’s water infrastructure.”

'Amazing engineering feat'

At the turn of the 20th century, entrepreneurs began developing a system to provide safe drinking water to a growing population in North Jersey. The Hackensack Water Company, now known as Veolia, already served about 100,000 people. But the area soon needed a larger reservoir to supply high-quality water for a post-war boom.

Work began on a 250 million-gallon reservoir in 1901. Between 1911 and 1923, laborers took on an “amazing engineering feat” to replace a wooden dam with a 23-foot-tall concrete structure that “has stood the test of time” for a century in Oradell, Weland said. “The structure was built to withstand all conditions while meeting an ever-increasing demand.”

By the time it was completed in 1923, the concrete dam was 402 feet long and 23 feet high and could hold 3.5 billion gallons of water.

Today, an average of 98 million gallons a day are drawn from the Oradell. The highest single-day draw was 163 million gallons on July 22, 2011. “The growth and development of this water company over 150 years made possible the growth and development of Bergen County," said Mary Amoroso, a Bergen County commissioner. "Without this water, we would not be thriving and growing as we have been.”

The existing reservoir can hold 3.5 billion gallons of water.

More:A third of N.J.'s most critical dams need repairs

Biodiversity projects to protect the watershed

Beyond providing water, the reservoir is home to 12 types of fish and is visited by other wildlife. Veolia has implemented biodiversity projects as one method to preserve the watershed. People can also enjoy recreation on the Hackensack River, which the dam contains, with the installation two years ago of a kayak launch.

“We've now given access to a body of water that no one ever had access to," Tedesco said. "And now people get to see the beauty of this section of the river that no one was able to.”

Veolia’s team works daily to maintain the dam and reservoir, and officials praised the century-long efforts of people who kept the system alive and well. Tedesco recalled their ongoing efforts and “significant progress” to bring “truly clean” drinking water to people when the county announced that lead was present in the water.

Flooding vs. protecting water supply

Many residents in towns surrounding the Hackensack River, including Oradell, where the dam is, were affected by flooding last year. At the time, Tedesco urged Veolia — then called Suez Water — to mitigate flooding after the watershed surged twice within seven months. Water levels in the river reached 6 feet after Hurricane Ida’s aftermath caused flooding across the region.

Rich Henning, then the executive vice president of communications for Suez, said there's a misconception that the company's reservoirs function like a flood-control dam. Rather, they're constructed as water supply dams that the utility wants as full as possible so that "we have the water when we need it the most."

More:Bergen blames Suez for flood damage, saying utility should warn of brimming reservoirs

Unintended consequences for Meadowlands

The dam's construction had unintended consequences down the river. The Hackensack River is tidal, flowing into Newark Bay and ultimately the Atlantic. Since the Oradell Dam was built, it has held back some of the Hackensack's freshwater flow downstream, which has allowed saltwater from New York Harbor and Newark Bay to reach farther up into the Meadowlands.

As a result, the Meadowlands was transformed from a freshwater marsh into a tidal saltwater one, destroying large stands of Atlantic cedar trees.

The Oradell Reservoir Dam turned 100 and Veolia — the utility company that owns and operates the dam — celebrated the milestone Wednesday, noting its importance in the growth of Northern New Jersey.

Without the reservoir, company officials said, North Jersey would look much different than it does today. Oradell is a vital water supply that provides 35 billion gallons of water annually to nearly 1 million residents and businesses across Bergen and Hudson counties, including Fair Lawn, Hackensack, Hasbrouck Heights, Wood- Ridge, Teterboro and Paramus

“Today we celebrate the Oradell Dam as an engineering feat that has withstood the test of a century, and we also recognize the people at our company and in our communities who had the foresight to build it,” said Alan Weland, Vice President and General Manager of Veolia’s operations in New Jersey. “Without a reliable source of drinking water, North Jersey would not exist as we know it today.”

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Weland was joined by Bergen County Executive James Tedesco, Oradell Mayor Dianne Didio and other state and local officials, who spoke about the importance of the dam to the region.

Rep. Josh Gottheimer, Rep. Bill Pascrell, Hudson County Executive Thomas DeGise and numerous other elected officials honored the company with proclamations commemorating the dam's 100 years of service.

“For a century, the Oradell Reservoir has been the source of clean drinking water for residents and businesses in Bergen and Hudson counties,” Tedesco said. “Unless you have been to the plant and see what happens on a 24-hour basis, you don't know the amount of effort and the quality of the work that's done by the employees here."

The reservoir that would become essential to the state's water supply had humble beginnings. In 1892, the Hackensack Water Company, now known as Veolia, was serving 100,000 people, a population that would quadruple over the next two decades. To meet this demand, the company expanded the reservoir.

In the early 1920s, work began on another expansion to satisfy the needs of a postwar population boom. By the time the dam was completed in 1923, the concrete dam was 402 feet long, 23 feet high and could hold 3.5 billion gallons of water.

Today, an average of 98 million gallons a day are drawn from the Oradell to meet the needs of North Jersey. The highest single day draw? That record — 163 million gallons — was set on July 22, 2011.

“The growth and development of this water company over 150 years made possible the growth and development of Bergen County. Without this water we would not be thriving and growing as we have been,” Bergen County Commissioner Mary Amoroso said. “I congratulate Veolia on the 100th anniversary of the wonderful dam."

As the community grew, the water system grew,” Weland said. “It is an integral part of our community here, including the economic health of our community as well as public health.”

4-minute read

Gene Myers

NorthJersey.com

Oradell husband-and-wife team Victor James “V.J.” Castro and Kelly Castro are leaving behind the world of finance for a path chosen by their 7-year old son, Carson.

It’s the next step in a journey that began in their kitchen during the pandemic when Kelly spent the days baking with Carson, who is on the autism spectrum, as a way of bringing him out of his shell.

One hundred and sixty packages of cookie dough flew off the shelves of two local restaurants this month, and though that may not be a lot, the Castros — and the community that supports them — have high hopes for the family business.

Carson's Cookie Dough, which opened in September, is being designed from the ground up to be an employer of people with disabilities like Carson, whose parents lie awake at night worried about their futures.

“He has to learn to think to do things that others take for granted, like talking and just communicating,” Kelly Castro said of her son. “I see him working so hard. When we ask my other sons, ‘What do you want to do when you grow up?’ the possibilities are endless for them. When I look at Carson, I wonder: Will he be OK?"

Carson loves cookies; he loves making cookie dough. During the pandemic, when school was remote, the family made tons of cookies because it made their son happy. It also brought language out of a child whose disability often thwarts communication.

"It kind of served as a therapy for him. We could never have eaten all the cookies we made. So we started giving it out to our friends,” said Castro, who used to do financial forecasting for HBO. She and V.J. met in the company's finance department.

Starting a business for their son

People were skittish in the early days of the pandemic when less was understood about COVID’s transmission, so Castro, 42, decided to give out cookie dough that people could bake for themselves and feel safe about eating.

“We didn't know if everyone was comfortable eating something that we baked. Everything was very nerve-wracking back then, and everyone had different comfort levels. So we would ball it up, get it ready to be baked and hand it out like that. It was a nice, little convenient treat that made their house smell great,” she said.

The “treats” they handed out to friends and neighbors served as market research that helped them tweak recipes.

“We played around with so many different recipes, adjusted here and there and packaged it different ways, and we just started dropping it off to our friends and neighbors,” she said. “We’d say, 'Can you tell us what you think of this?' By the second, third or fourth time, we’d drop them off they'd be waiting on the porch for us. They were happy, so excited to get it.”

They settled on three flavors: chocolate chip, molasses spice and chocolate crinkle, which is made with Ghirardelli chocolate to create a chewy center that contrasts with its crispy outer layer.

It was around this time that Castro met Gina Vaccaro, 53, who owns two Oradell restaurants, The Lab Burger and Calabria Pizza, both in the same strip mall as Schreibers Deli & Catering on Kinderkamack Road.

Castro was a customer and asked Vaccaro if she would help with a fundraiser for the local school.

“We became fast friends through that,” said Vaccaro. “She would tell me about her life and we would talk about our children.”

Vaccaro gave other tips along the way, such as renting a kitchen instead of investing in a storefront, to keep costs down while Castro was getting the business off the ground. Vaccaro also told her not to be shy when it comes to sharing details of her family’s life with others.

“You have to personalize it. Put the story of why you're doing it out there so people can relate. There's a lot of people in the same situation. Who wouldn't want to support it?” said Vaccaro, who now sells the cookie dough in both of her restaurants.

As the ball got rolling, Castro started thinking beyond her family. How many “meaningful” jobs could she create with this venture? She put a flow chart together. She would need people to do the mixing and packaging. She would need sales people who could talk passionately about the products. She would need delivery teams, and staff for the back office.

The need in the disability community for work is great. An estimated 500,000 people with autism will graduate in the U.S. over the next 10 years, according to Secaucus-based Spectrum Works, which focuses on the employment gap for those with autism. Almost half of 25-year-olds with autism have never held a paying job, due to a lack of opportunities, the group said.

“The ultimate goal is to grow and create other locations, and I want to start a foundation to raise funds to provide a social worker or some professional that's on hand at each location to make sure everyone working there is getting fulfillment out of what they're doing,” Castro said. “We have this ultimate goal of supporting this community with fulfilling and engaging employment. For now, we don't have any employees.”

She sees that timeline as being a year or two out. For now it’s just she and Carson cooking and making the rounds.

“We want to make sure we have everything down solid before we bring on the staff. We want to make sure they're in a good situation and not coming into chaos,” she said. “Our goal is to make it so that this community has the same opportunities as everyone else, a career actually doing something they want to do and they feel good doing it.”

In the meantime she's on the lookout for examples from other businesses with similar missions to employ people with disabilities, like Maplewood-based Beloved Bath and John’s Crazy Socks in Farmingdale, New York. Castro supports them with donations when she can.

“You walk in, and you can’t help but feel that joy,” she said.

Gene Myers covers disability and mental health for NorthJersey.com and the USA TODAY Network. For unlimited access to the most important news from your local community, please subscribe or activate your digital account today.

Ascendia Bank Oradell Grand Opening. - Ascendia Bank

Ascendia Bank, a 100-year-old northern New Jersey financial institution formerly known as Glen Rock Savings Bank, recently held a successful grand opening celebration for its new Oradell branch on November 4. Located at 550 Kinderkamack Road, the branch marks Ascendia Bank’s fifth overall and second in Bergen County.

The event amassed a substantial turnout with hundreds of attendees arriving to participate in festivities and many residents lining up to open new accounts. The event began with a ribbon cutting ceremony with Oradell Mayor, Dianne Didio. An Instant Cash Giveaway provided a measure of excitement, with attendees receiving tumblers containing anywhere from $1 to $100 in cash, as well as Ascendia Bank tote bags filled with practical giveaways.

As part of the celebration, Ascendia Bank offered several limited-time promotions including: a Special nine-month Welcome CD, and a three-tier Welcome Money market checking and three-tier Welcome statement savings accounts. Special Kasasa Cash Back® Checking and Kasasa Savings® accounts were also promoted. Given the popularity of these special products/rates, the bank will continue the offerings.

“We are thrilled to have hosted such a well-attended Grand Opening event thanks to the support of the incredible Oradell community,” Ferdinand (Fred) Viaud, president and CEO of Ascendia Bank said. “We look forward to providing our new and existing customers with high-quality service and financial solutions from our new location.”

Featuring two drive-up windows and a walk-in ATM with 24/7 accessibility, the new 3,300-square-foot branch was formerly occupied by a credit union and was chosen in part for its history of housing successful financial institutions.

For Ascendia Bank, the expansion followed several recent milestones and new offerings. Last year, the bank celebrated its 100th anniversary servicing northern New Jersey residents and businesses, and this past November it opened a spacious new headquarters featuring a dedicated mortgage lending center.

This year, Ascendia Bank also has enhanced its suite of mobile banking services, allowing customers to open new accounts, deposit checks, pay bills, monitor account activities and even apply for mortgages via a streamlined smartphone app. The mobile banking features set Ascendia Bank apart from many local banking institutions, combining the personal touches of a neighborhood bank with the convenience and flexibility of larger ones.

ORADELL — After five months of hearings, a new restaurant got the go-ahead to take over a space in the heart of the downtown once occupied by Cool Beans coffee shop.

Ora, a 248-seat, two-story restaurant with outdoor dining and a vegetable garden, will replace Cool Beans, a popular spot that closed around the end of 2019. The Zoning Board of Adjustment voted unanimously to approve the application by 304 Kinderkamack Road LLC on Monday night.

The Kinderkamack Road property, next to the Bergen County Players theater, is an 8,600-square-foot commercial building with several tenants and a patio in back. It will be renovated into a 10,400-square-foot, two-story restaurant with outdoor dining in front and a garden in back.

The approval required a number of conditions, including preparation of a parking management plan that must be approved by the borough; a lighting review after six months to make sure brightness levels meet borough code, and an agreement with neighboring property owners over screening on the north side of the site. No outdoor music will be allowed, and a sound study will be done.

The applicant's professionals said the parking management plan will evolve as parking and traffic situations change in the area.

Thomas Silvestri, the future owner of Ora and executive chef at White Beeches Golf and Country Club, testified during the hearing, saying that Ora would be a “family-friendly, modern Italian restaurant with an upscale bar.” The restaurant will also feature a brick oven imported from Italy.

Silvestri said Ora would have a soft opening, operating as dinner-only for a few months and closing on Mondays. Weekend brunch would be the next step before the restaurant opens seven days a week. He anticipates it will take eight months to a year to run at full capacity.

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The restaurant will have 70 seats on the first floor with a wood-burning pizza oven, and a bar area seating 56 patrons with a view of the semi-open kitchen, architect Garrett Singer has said. Twenty-eight seasonal outdoor dining seats in the front were also proposed.

On the second floor, 48 seats will be used for overflow dining, and another private dining area will seat 42. The upstairs will also have a 20-person dining/meeting space.

The biggest concern throughout the hearing had been parking, for which the applicant requested a variance. There is no parking on-site, and the developer needed to show there was adequate parking nearby. A previously presented parking study identified 326 spaces available in the area, including 17 in the immediate vicinity on Kinderkamack Road.

Although the possibility of valet parking had been discussed, those plans did not appear to be included in the final version of the proposal.

"From this meeting tonight, the valet is not entirely off the table, but they are going to see how things develop before they move in that direction," said zoning board Chairman Marvin Michelman. "When you look at the restaurants in Ridgewood or Westwood, I don't see valet parking."

During public comment, 11 people spoke in favor of the project, saying it will revitalize the downtown and provide a gathering place for the community.

Resident Michael Gallucci said he felt the restaurant would encourage people to come to Oradell and bring customers to other businesses. He read a letter on behalf of the Oradell Economic Development Advisory Committee supporting the project.

"Along with the theater, it can be a hub, something that Oradell is lacking," Gallucci said. "We can truly have a town center."

Board member Chris Santaniello said the applicant made a "big concession" by eliminating the back deck because of noise concerns. He said the renovation would be good for the downtown and the "positives outweigh the negatives."

"Might people park on side streets? Sure, but that’s legal today," said Santaniello. "We can’t really consider something that’s perfectly legal as negative criteria. As far as positive criteria, if we’re being honest, our downtown is borderline distressed."

Stephanie Noda is a local reporter for NorthJersey.com. For unlimited access to the most important news from your local community, please subscribe or activate your digital account today.

Email: [email protected]