Connection to Bring More Water to Downtown Armonk on Horizon

Critical water infrastructure improvements that will help several properties on New King Street in North Castle obtain sufficient water as well providing additional capacity for downtown Armonk is on the brink of becoming a reality.

The North Castle Town Board accepted receipt of a Basis of Design Report for a new water storage tank, booster pumping station and interconnection between the town’s Water District #4 and Water District #8 at its Aug. 14 meeting. Water District #8 will be serving five parcels on New King Street with an extension to allow the recently approved 175-unit Airport Campus project to hook up and bring water to the site of the old MBIA office park at 113 King St.

Water District #4 serves Armonk’s downtown business district and has had capacity issues for years.

“This is the next step in this task of trying to get another quality water source for downtown Armonk and I think we’re that much closer with this report,” said Sal Misiti, North Castle’s director of water and sewer operations.

The report, completed last month by D&B Engineers and Architects, outlines two options for the town to connect water districts #4 and #8, said Andrew Grundy, an engineer for the firm. The first alternative would be to build a one-million-gallon storage tank at King Street and Cooney Hill Road on the property still owned by Swiss Re. An easement from the corporation would be needed by the town.

In order to bring water to the Airport Campus site, the developer is building a new water distribution system that includes a new booster pumping station and a tank on the property, according to the report. It also needs to connect to the main that is coming from the Westchester Joint Water Works.

Grundy said then a second pumping station would be needed to get water from the one-million-gallon tank into Water District #4 and to the existing tank at Miller Circle. It would be connected to Water District #4’s main with a new 12-inch main.

The second alternative would have the town tap into the Airport Campus tank rather than build the million-gallon tank, Grundy explained.

Improvements would include the extension of a 12-inch water main from New King Street to Airport Campus, a 291,000-gallon water storage tank and a booster pump station located on the development site. The booster pump station on the property would be connected to Water District #4 at Old Post Road with about 9,000 feet of main.

A 2016 study completed for the town concluded Water District #4 would need more than 440 gallons per minute, Grundy said. This would provide the district with at least 695 gallons per minute.

At the board’s discussion on Aug. 14, it appeared town officials were focused on the second option.

Supervisor Joseph Rende said when the water connections are completed it will be a critical improvement for the town.

“Just for the public knowledge, this is going to be a huge benefit for the town overall, to have this new development within the town,” Rende said. “We’re going to be gaining certainly a tremendous advantage with the increase well above what we needed or what we estimated to need.”

Misiti said once the developer completes building the infrastructure on the Airport Campus property that will be transferred to the town to operate and maintain.

In addition, there is also another well that is being added to Water District #4.

“With the new well coming on line and this, we’ll be in really good shape as far as meeting our demands, our water demands,” Misiti said.

Preliminary cost estimates as outlined in the Basis Report also favored the second alternative. Alternative #1 is projected to cost about $16.1 million while going with the second option would run about $9.85 million.

Councilman Jose Berra said with the unpredictability of climate, the extra water that will be available to the town is crucial despite some reservations that the extra capacity potentially could spawn greater development.

“We need the water, and we have to worry that with climate change water will become scarcer, so I think this is a very prudent thing to do,” Berra said.

There are currently demands in the system, which will be addressed with the project, Misiti added.