County Gives Library Plans to Borough; Frozen Pipes Cause Water Use to Soar

STONE HARBOR – County officials attended the March 17 Borough Council meeting to present the plans for the new county library branch that will be constructed at Second Avenue and 96th streets. “The wheels have come off this a couple of times,” stated Mayor Suzanne Walters. Talk of the new library branch has been a mainstay of Stone Harbor politics for many years, a project always in the offing but never quite there.
The $5.2-million, two-story structure now has real plans and is set to go out to bid. Once the work starts, the expectation is that construction will take 18 months. Those wishing to see the design document can find it on the borough website at http://goo.gl/O3LuMj.
In a brief presentation, the building was described as a fully-modern library capable of holding a vastly larger collection, with workstations, Wi-Fi, laptop compters and a kitchen. Programming possibilities from exercise classes to French cooking and from computer instruction to children’s projects were discussed.
Recreation and Park Facilities
Council member Judith Davies-Dunhour discussed recent efforts to gain county open space funding for various improvements in the borough’s recreation and park facilities. Underscoring the fact that freeholders had yet to vote on the recommendations coming out of the open space discussions, Davies-Dunhour indicated that the recommendation going to the freeholders included $600,000 for improvements at the 82nd Street park and $645,000 for work at Chelsea Place Park.
Davies-Dunhour added that part of the borough’s contribution to the proposed upgrades at the Chelsea Place playground is $109,000 in equipment that has already been spent. “We saw a good deal for the equipment and grabbed it while we went through this process,” she said. The borough will add $274 for the Chelsea project, which will be part of the 2016 budget process.
The borough’s open space application outlined its plans for the 82nd Street Recreation Park. The proposal is to construct new restroom facilities, provide new equipment for playgrounds and safety surfacing, and significantly upgrade the tennis facilities. The total project cost is projected at $804,000. The current recommendation for open space funds would leave $200,000 to be supplied by the borough.
February Leaks
Council member Karen Lane gave a figure for water usage in February that had to be repeated to ensure it was heard correctly. According to Lane, the borough used 4 million gallons more of water this February than the previous year. The staggering increase was caused by February’s record cold, producing numerous leaks in water pipes throughout the borough.
Despite a variety of efforts to urge homeowners to winterize their homes before leaving them for the season, the Public Works Department was kept busy responding to water leaks throughout the exceptionally cold month and performing over 100 emergency turnoffs. In some instances, Lane said, “The same homeowner had a problem the previous year.”
The borough has made a diligent effort to reduce unnecessary water consumption as part of their Go Green Community initiative. The previous month was a setback in those efforts. Recommendations for actions that should be included in the winterizing of homes that will not be occupied through the cold months are available on the borough’s web site.
To contact Vince Conti, email vconti@cmcherald.com.