Nearly a year after work began to replace two major wastewater lines in town, the project is nearing completion. The project, called the Sandy Hollow Road Siphon Line System Replacement Project, began on July 19, 2014 to replace the sewer lines covering a large area of town south of Main Street and east of Haven Avenue. Those two sewer lines, which had been installed in 1950, were developing cracks and slowly failing. This work “had to be done before we had a catastrophic failure of these mains,” said Windsor Kinney, superintendent of the Port Washington Water Pollution Control District (PWWPCD). The existing sewer lines have a lifespan of about 50 years, but have now been in service for 65 years.
The replacement project, which cost $2.8 million, was financed by an interest-free bond in the amount of $2,121,644 and an $823,881 grant from the Environmental Facilities Corp., a state-run program. A contract for the project was awarded to G&M Earthmoving of Holbrook, and the contractor was given one year to complete the project. According to Kinney, 90 percent of the project is expected to be completed by June 19, with a final completion date on target for July 19. “They have done a fabulous job,” said Kinney. “It was a significant undertaking because all sewer systems are underneath the other infrastructure.” During the project, the old mains have still been in operation. The brand new pipes, which run from Irma Avenue to Francis Drive, Roger Drive, Glen Lane and then to the PWWPCD Treatment Plant, will have a lifespan of over 100 years.
PWWPCD gave residents advance notice of the potential disruption to expect during the project, especially on Irma Avenue, Sandy Hollow Road, Francis Drive, Roger Drive and Glen Lane. “During this contract,” PWWPCD said in a letter to area residents last summer, “based on the progression and location of the work, the construction crews will periodically impact vehicular access to a resident’s driveways, on-street parking and traffic flow within the community. Also, during the construction, a resident’s sewer service may have to be temporarily disconnected (dependent on the location of each sewer service) from the district’s mainline in the street.” PWWPCD held multiple public meetings at the Port Washington Public Library, town hall and other venues, and sent letters informing residents of the project’s progress.
Yet, many town residents have not been pleased with the disruption caused by the year-long project. Lee Kalinsky, president of the Harbor Hills Residents Association, said that the project has adversely impacted residents in his neighborhood, as well as throughout the town, especially the constant road closures, giant potholes, big metal steel plates and intolerable construction noise. The biggest concern now, according to Kalinsky, is that the roads have been left in terrible condition. There was no requirement in the contract, he said, for the contractor to repave the roads curb to curb after the installation work was completed. His residents association is seeking to have the roads restored to their original condition. In response to their requests, the Town of North Hempstead has now committed to repaving the entire neighborhood as part of the town capital plan over the next three to five years.
Kinney is pleased that, despite the harsh winter, the project is on target to be completed within the one-year time frame. He stated in a recent letter to residents that as “a taxpayer and fourth-generation resident of Port Washington,” he is “ensuring ‘the project’ is being done correctly. The engineering was done correctly, it is within budget, no one’s property was damaged, no one was hurt and it will be completed on time.”
