New Castle Prepares for Onslaught of Chappaqua Infrastructure Work
New Castle residents and merchants should prepare themselves for a difficult spring when traveling to downtown Chappaqua as work on the infrastructure project is set to ramp up as soon as next month.
That advisory came last week from the Town Board and former councilman Adam Brodsky, who continues to act as a liaison for the town to help the municipality get through the disruption.
“It’s going to get considerably worse before it gets better,” Brodsky said. That’s the bad news.”
Brodsky said that starting as early as March and lasting until sometime during the summer crews will be ripping up downtown to lay the new sewer lines and removing and replacing the existing sidewalks.
There will be extensive excavation because the lines will be placed eight to 10 feet below ground in front of the buildings, he said.
Because of the wider sidewalks, the roads are going to be realigned slightly, he mentioned.
Engineer John Kazawic of Boswell Engineering said when crews are ready to install the new sidewalks they will start on South Greeley Avenue closest to Town Hall and work their way over to the commercial area.
However, when the sidewalk replacement reaches the heart of downtown in front of the stores, other arrangements will be made, Kazawic said.
“I spoke to (contractor) ELQ (Industries) and the plan is to place gang planks, aluminum gang planks where we come down to the curb and take up the sidewalk,” he said. “We can put it from the merchant’s entrance to the roadway.”
Another concern for officials is the relocation of about 16 utility poles in the downtown, Town Administrator Jill Shapiro told the board last week. With the construction of the new sidewalks, which have different dimensions, the town and Con Edison must agree on the best locations for where those poles are anchored.
An internal meeting involving Con Ed representatives and town officials was held last Friday morning at Town Hall.
“The last thing in the world I want there to be is a difference in opinion where the poles are finally repositioned,” Shapiro said.
Board members stressed that communication between the town, the merchants and residents will need to be timely and accurate to have as little impact on the community as possible.
Councilwoman Ivy Pool, addressing the board and Kazawic, said the town must be ready to transmit information on a timely and consistent basis because the work promises to be so disruptive.
“But people are really rooting for us and the way we maintain that is to get out in front of this over the next six months and provide as much clarity and information as we can,” Pool said.
Brodsky said he expects the worst of the problems to be over toward the end of the summer.
“Once we get to the end of the summer, people will still be working but it’s going to get real pretty,” he said. “The worst is ahead of us for sure.”
Martin has more than 30 years experience covering local news in Westchester and Putnam counties, including a frequent focus on zoning and planning issues. He has been editor-in-chief of The Examiner since its inception in 2007. Read more from Martin’s editor-author bio here. Read Martin’s archived work here: https://www.theexaminernews.com/author/martin-wilbur2007/
