TOWNSHIP OF WASHINGTON—Mayor Peter Calamari told Township Council members at their Aug. 15 meeting that there will not be enough space at a proposed newly designed $4.5 million public works facility to be built at town hall to store all of the department’s current vehicles and equipment.
Due to the late hour of the discussion — it started at approximately midnight — Calamari said the DPW’s new facility likely would be discussed at the next council meeting, Sept. 6.
Near the end of a nearly five-hour session, interrupted by a more than two-hour closed session in the middle, Calamari discussed the architect’s preliminary rendering and project estimate for the new DPW facility behind town hall. He and council members engaged in a 20-minute dialogue on the project nearly 41⁄2 hours into the meeting.
No members of the public was present but the discussion can be viewed on the township’s archived YouTube meeting channel.
Calamari said the proposed DPW facility will include a garage with five bays, administrative offices above, a salt storage facility, areas for residents’ drop-off of recyclables, including styrofoam, cardboard, electronics recycling, and used-oil recycling. He showed a preliminary architect’s rendering of the site at the meeting.
He said the new DPW will also have a wash bay.
The DPW has been essentially homeless since the former headquarters, at the municipal complex, was razed, and toxic soil underneath was remediated under state order.
Calamari’s announcement seemed to surprise council members, with some saying the ambulance corps building behind town hall was to be torn down — on the WTVAC’s fall move to a new, multimillion-dollar shared complex with the volunteer fire department — ostensibly to make room for additional DPW equipment.
However, Calamari said that township architect Arcari Iovino told him that not all current DPW equipment and vehicles could be stored at the proposed facility, even with the former ambulance corps property used for storage.
Calamari said he asked the architect to look into possible uses of the former corps building for the police department.
He said once a design is approved, it will likely take a year or more from design approval before a shovel is put into ground for construction.
He noted that all such equipment could have been stored at the 1.45-acre former Charlie Brown’s restaurant site, at 95 Linwood Ave. — his “Option 1” — which the township, within a due diligence period, decided not to purchase for $1.35 million following discovery of piping from former gas pumps used on the site.
He had advocated for the Charlie Brown’s site in part because he said potential DPW space at town hall was insufficient for the town’s growing needs. He finally threw in with those supporting “Option 2,” moving the WTPD from town hall to the Charlie Brown’s site.
In the end, that was moot.
“There’s no way that all their equipment that is currently stored at the swim club will fit in that footprint,” Calamari said of the space occupied by the WTVAC under a negligible town lease.
Vice president Stacey Feeney asked, “So even taking down the ambulance building, you’re saying that we need an alternative location to store our equipment. Is that what’s being said?”
“Correct,” Calamari said.
At the council’s July meeting, Calamari had asked members to propose alternative storage locations for multiple pieces of equipment, including seasonal equipment for leaf and snow removal, now stored at the township-owned former Washington Township Swim and Recreation Club on Ridgewood Boulevard North.
Calamari said the extra DPW equipment would be stored at the swim club “indefinitely” until an alternate location was secured, annoying at least one vocal swim club neighbor who said that Calamari was backpedaling on a pledge not to use the club for DPW operations.
Calamari said previously that there were no storage alternatives available except for renewing the township’s contract with Our Lady of Good Counsel Church at a cost of $2,500 monthly.
He said he had reached out to nearby mayors and Bergen County Executive James Tedesco III to no avail.
At the Aug. 15 session, no decisions were made on housing extra DPW equipment and vehicles.
Calamari advocated for leaving the venerable ambulance corps building standing until it could be determined whether it could have an alternate use. He said he would support demolishing the building if all DPW equipment stored at the swim club site could fit in the new plans.
Feeney said she was waiting for the new DPW facility rendering before determining whether the ambulance corps building should be demolished. Councilman Thomas Sears said the original agreement was to demolish the ambulance corps building and have the space used for DPW operations.
Calamari said he was looking to solicit council’s comments on the preliminary design, noting that DPW officials viewed the new facility design as “positive” and which will fulfill their needs “for years to come.”
He said from “prior ordinances” and the school sale years ago, approximately $2 million was available for the new DPW facility. He said the township would likely need to bond for an additional $2.5 million to cover construction.
No estimate of potential tax impacts on residents was presented.
Sears wondered if the architect looked into solar panels for the new DPW facility roof to help subsidize construction and be self-sufficient with power. Calamari said he would look into that.
Calamari said he would have the architect draw up a rendering showing an “eye-level” view of the building after the preliminary design of the building’s footprint and layout is approved.
Council president Desserie Morgan questioned whether the $4.5 million might go higher with professional fees, additional bonding, and other improvements.
Calamari said $4.5 million estimate included contingency and escalation costs, approximating nearly 17% of project costs. He said he hoped the project cost would not rise to that amount.
Too much equipment?
In July, councilman Steven Cascio criticized Calamari for not consulting the council about next steps for the swim club purchase — saying it was “kind of backwards” to do a study and not ask council members what they would like to see on the site to help determine future uses.
Cascio also noted that the mayor had said he would not conduct DPW operations from the site but that nevertheless the town is storing vehicles and equipment there, to the consternation of neighbors, one of whom had recently complained of stagnant water and mosquitoes.
Cascio told Pascack Press at the time that the DPW had “too much equipment” for the DPW’s size and that one solution to storage might be to “get rid of stuff that you don’t use” and store the remaining equipment partly at Sherry Field and partly at the swim club site.
He said it’s “quality employees” who make the difference in DPW operations, not excess or redundant equipment.
Pascack Press has requested of the mayor and council president that an informational walk-through of the town’s swim club site purchase be facilitated, but these requests have not been granted.