STONE HARBOR – Stone Harbor is initiating a ten-month project to relocate and replace one of its two municipal sanitary sewer pumps. The project is on an expedited schedule, with completion scheduled for the second week in November.
The borough’s wastewater system utilizes two municipally owned pump stations at 114th and 93rd streets, and one additional pump station owned and operated by the county Municipal Utilities Authority (MUA) near the 80th Street Marina.
The 93rd Street pump station, constructed in the 1930s, handles 85% of the total wastewater flow for the borough. With the aging pump station in need of replacement, the borough is also using the effort as an opportunity to relocate the pump station to a recently purchased vacant lot at 94th Street, adjacent to the municipal free parking lot.
The purchase of the new pumps and a prefabricated pump station building are underway. By early February, the borough expects to take action approving the use of the contractor mobilized as part of the annual utility and road program.
Installing new sewer piping and a forced main will temporarily disrupt movement on impacted streets. To minimize that disruption, the contractor will start street work in February, but pause it in mid-June for the remainder of the busiest months of summer. The street work will pick up again following Labor Day, and end in November.
The pipework connecting the new pump station to the sewer main and eventually to the MUA station will require closures along 93rd and 94th streets, along with Third Avenue. Every effort will be made to minimize disruption to the neighboring Stone Harbor Elementary School.
Site work, the installation of the pumps and new station building, is scheduled to go on over the summer, with Borough Engineer Marc DeBlasio seeking approval from Stone Harbor Borough Council for construction activity that otherwise would not be allowed.
The pump station will be set back from 94th Street on the intended lot, allowing mature trees and foliage to mask a view of the station from the street. The entrance to the station will be from the free parking lot.
DeBlasio said that during site construction, most of the parking lot will be closed, putting a temporary strain on a borough wrestling with summer parking issues.
The prefabricated building will be equipped with Hardie board siding to give a residential appearance. The loading dock will also be designed in the manner of a residential front porch.
Given the importance of the pump station and the large portion of the borough that it services, the project is a critical aspect of infrastructure modernization.
To contact Vince Conti, email vconti@cmcherald.com.
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