The Hammonton Gazette 031214 | Page 5

Mayor: ‘Hammonton was very close to another moratorium’ Page 4 • Wednesday, March 12, 2014 • The Hammonton Gazette COUNCIL, from Page 2 down, probably in the next 10 to 15 days, the electric company, we’re going to follow up right after the pre-con meeting, you’re going to have your tree surgeons out there finishing whatever’s not completed and your pipe crew’s going to start on Packard…so construction will start sometime, early, first 10 to 15 days of april, we’ll see some excavation and some equipment and some mobilization,” DiDonato said. the town has asked the electric company to assist in trimming some of the trees that are in line with power lines during the course of the project. “in cooperation with the town, we asked atlantic City electric, on some of the trees that are, on the trees that are underneath their power lines, if they could provide any kind of assistance with trying to work cooperatively with the town and homeowners to please trim those trees to a point below the tree line themselves,” Vettese said. atlantic City electric representative tom reilly noted that they were still waiting on a list of trees before beginning work. “i just want to reiterate, we still haven’t gotten that list, so we’re about three weeks behind for when we anticipated we were going to get that list. it’s really important that we get that in our education management team’s hands as soon as possible so we can keep you guys on schedule,” reilly said. Based on the projected start date, Grape, Packard and Second Street should take 16 to 20 weeks to complete, according to Mayor DiDonato. “You’re looking at 16 to 20 weeks… sometime, hopefully by Labor Day, they’ll be in real good shape,” DiDonato said. DiDonato was very adamant about taking care to complete the compaction correctly on the project. “take pains to do your compaction properly… and that’s one thing i hope the inspectors are very picky on… we’ve got to compact it properly for the long run, this is a very expensive job with a lot of taxpayer money, we want to make sure it services the town for a long time to come,“ DiDonato said. Grape Street resident Diane DeCicco came before council to inquire about a moratorium on non-emergency street openings after the project is completed. “five years,” DiDonato said. She also asked about one-side parking on the street. DiDonato said this was due to the narrowing of the street in some areas that will occur as a part of the project. “two-way traffic, one-way parking…in some areas of Grape Street we actually have to narrow a little bit to get everything in, to make everything work, and try to save a few of these trees, so there will not be enough room,” DiDonato said. in other council business, Councilman edward Wuillermin gave an update on the status of the drip irrigation at Boyer avenue and the town’s Long term Wastewater Management Plan, which will be going before the full Pinelands Commission on March 14. “this past friday