Page 4 • Wednesday , April 26 , 2023 • The Hammonton Gazette
Town discusses possible public park at Bellevue & Packard
PWTC , from Page 1 vironmental Protection ( DEP ).
“ Let ’ s see what they want to do . This isn ’ t a town issue ; this is a state issue ,” Furgione said .
Bachalis also said that he saw a grant opportunity from the DEP to assist municipalities with complying with municipal separate storm sewer systems ( MS4 ) permit requirements .
“ I ’ m assuming that we ’ re going to either have applied already for it or will apply for it ,” Bachalis said .
While addressing the committee , Bachalis said that the Lake Water Quality Advisory Committee was interested in the removal of the clean-flow apparatus at the lake .
“ We were wondering if the town would help to effect that ,” Bachalis said .
Furgione said that conversations have been held on the topic .
“ I think the way we ’ re going to do it is , when the lake gets drained again , we ’ ll go out there ,” Furgione said .
Furgione said that Municipal Utilities Superintendent Anthony DeCicco had already begun work .
“ I know there ’ s a pipe exposed , and I don ’ t know how that ’ s secured ... and I don ’ t know ; do we just want to go out there and start Sawzalling and cutting things up ?” Furgione said .
Bachalis said that the hope of the committee was to pull the pipes and the apparatus itself , which is anchored to the lakebed . Bachalis noted that any work will disturb the sediment on the bottom of the lake , which will release nutrients in the soil .
“ If the water was warm enough , it could lead to a growth in algae or other plants which could deprive the fish and other lake denizens of oxygen ; we don ’ t want that to happen . You especially don ’ t want an algae bloom because it ’ s toxic to people and other life . If we do it toward the fall when we would be lowering the lake , the water will be colder ; it should not contribute to that growth in plant life ,” Bachalis said .
Public Works Manager Robert Vettese said that waiting for the lake-lowering would take two years .
“ We just did it ... it ’ s in the lake management plan ,” Vettese said .
Bachalis said that time was not necessarily a factor .
“ If it takes a couple of years , it takes a couple of years . It ’ s been there for how long ?” Bachalis said .
Under his report , Town Engineer Mark Herrmann , of Adams , Rehmann and Heggan Associates ( ARH ), addressed work still needing to be done in conjunction with the project on Vine Street / School House Lane .
“ I ’ ve got to get the contractor out there to make some changes to the ramp that goes up to the historical society . They ’ ve got to redo that a little bit because they didn ’ t match what was there before ,” Herrmann said .
Councilman Sam Rodio inquired about the paver bricks on the sides of the ramp .
“ I told them before : there ’ s the donor bricks that have no words on them , and I want them to put them back ,” Herrmann said .
Herrmann said that he supplied the contractor — Think Pavers Hardscaping LLC — with a pre-construction video of the area , as well as an image from Google Street View showing how the area looked before work commenced .
“ I told them to look at it before , and they didn ’ t look at it ; they just did the ramp ,” Herrmann said .
Herrmann also gave an update on potential construction work on Old Forks Road , noting that he spoke with a representative from the New Jersey Department of Transportation ( DOT ).
“ We can combine the funds into one project , but he gave me instructions on how to structure the bid , so that ’ s what I ’ ve been doing . We ’ ll do a base bid for one of the grants , an alternate for the other grant , and then another alternate for the water and sewer ,” Herrmann said .
Regarding Hammonton Lake Park , Herrmann said that he would work together with the town ’ s landscape architect — Scott Taylor of Taylor Design Group — to create a comprehensive proposal of the work to be done .
Furgione asked if this would be a design to send to the Pinelands Commission ; Herrmann responded in the affirmative , and Furgione continued .
“ Are you going to try to incorporate the grant we got for the bike path ?” Furgione said . Herrmann said that he would . “ We ’ re going to try to put it all together the best we can ,” Herrmann said .
Vettese said that he also spoke with Taylor regarding property on the corner of Packard Street and Bellevue Avenue that the town is looking to acquire under the county ’ s open space and recreation plan .
“ Half of it could be reimbursable by the county ’ s grant ,” Vettese said .
Mayor Stephen DiDonato , who attended the meeting via Zoom teleconferencing software — as did Councilman Edward Wuillermin , Municipal Utilities Superintendent Anthony DeCicco and Public Works Department Head Scott Rivera — asked for more details , which Vettese supplied .
“ The only problem with Packard Street is , right now the tax map appears as three lots ; it doesn ’ t show the four lots . They didn ’ t file in the county yet for the four-lot subdivision because of some comments that Mary Joan [ Wyatt , the town ’ s tax assessor ] wants some lot numbers changed to correspond to how they ’ re normally assigned , and she hasn ’ t gotten those plans back ,” Vettese said . Furgione inquired as to use of the land . “ Could we do a little pocket park there ?”
Furgione said . Vettese replied in the affirmative . “ Whatever you want . In fact , once we start doing this , I asked Scott [ Taylor ] to put together a sketch , because we have to give them a sketch of a best guess of what we ’ re going to do ,” Vettese said . Furgione continued . “ There ’ s some nice oak trees there we could save ,” Furgione said .
Under his report , Vettese spoke about the well contaminations in the Lakeview Gardens section of Hammonton .
“ I ’ ll get you the latest update from where we sit with how many people are remaining and how many people — we just got some cards back from some people they weren ’ t
SJA honoring Donio Foundation
SJA , from Page 3 members of the community that they don ’ t see often and to show their gratitude for what their continued support means to the school .
“ We want to explain to them how their continued support is being seen and what we ’ re doing with the generous donations that we receive and explaining and highlighting the impacts that their generosity has on the day-to-day life and workings at SJA and just let them know how important they are to us and how grateful we are for them . Just being around them , obviously there are people that love the school and what ’ s happening here so we want to make sure that the night is nothing but enjoyable for everyone that is able to make it so just spending time with members of our community and big supporters and make them feel the love because it ’ s very important to us ,” Young said .
As for Rodio , the event is a great way for the alumni to come together and to branch off to new members . It ’ s also a way to not only celebrate the past of SJA but to also recognize the future of where SJA is heading .
“ I ’ m more excited that Mr . Cappuccio and others get to push our narrative of where we want this school to go . I think the more people that the school is growing and that these events are getting more nicer and formal and I think that ’ s what ’ s going to ultimately , word of mouth , that SJA is not going anywhere , we ’ re not only here to stay but we ’ re here to thrive ,” Rodio said .
SJA ’ s The Rising event will take place on May 13 from 6 p . m . to 11 p . m . at the Tavistock Country Club in Haddonfield , N . J . Tickets are $ 150 and can be purchased online at stjosephacademy . com / rising- 2023 .
able to serve , and then I ’ ll go over that list with Mark ,” Vettese said . Furgione commented on the matter . “ If you have other people , we ’ ll get them one more time , new . Anybody that ’ s over the limit , tell them they ’ ve got to get the second test , and we ’ ll put that on the same schedule ,” Furgione said .
Furgione said that , with the last tests performed , there were seven wells in total .
“ There were six , and one was a double ,”
Furgione said . Vettese responded . “ The one with the double , the two wells tested above the limits , and there ’ s one other person that tested above the limits ,” Vettese said .
Vettese said that the town received two additional phone calls from residents of that section who want to perform the initial test , bringing the total number up to five .
Furgione said that , in his opinion , it was time to confer with ARH regarding a price for design work to run town waterlines in the area , and DiDonato concurred .
“ I absolutely agree ; we should get a price to design ,” DiDonato said .
Furgione said that there were 54 homes in the area , and addressed Herrmann .
“ We could sit down and meet if you want . I don ’ t know if we ’ re going to bid it as one project , or bid it as a base and do a bunch of alternates , but we ’ ve at least got to get an idea of what it ’ s going to cost to design it ,” Furgione said .
Vettese also asked Herrmann if he had an update on the lead and galvanized pipe survey , and Herrmann responded in the affirmative .
“ We have 980 surveys received out of over 4,000 ,” Herrmann said .
Of that number , Herrmann said , 14 are marked as lead pipes and 40 are marked as galvanized pipes . Furgione asked DeCicco for further clarification .
“ Galvanized is going to go as well , or is it just lead ?” Furgione said .
DeCicco responded that both will need to be replaced .
“ They consider galvanized lead ; it ’ s in the same category ,” Furgione said .
Furgione asked if the age of the 980 homes is known , and Herrmann replied .
“ Every form has the date of the house on there ,” Herrmann said .
Furgione noted that , in theory , the homes could start to be plotted ; Herrmann responded in the affirmative , and Furgione continued .
“ We should be able to tell , OK , the nextdoor neighbor built their home around the same time ; they ’ re probably going to have the same issue or not ,” Furgione said . Herrmann said that mapping has begun . Also during his report , Vettese supplied an update on the refurbishing of the tennis courts at Hammonton Middle School .
“ They double-milled the court areas , because after they milled the first four inches , you could still see some of the old cracks ; they ’ re still reflecting through , so , in order to get everything uniform , we told the contractor to go ahead ,” Vettese said .
That extra work , Vettese said , cost an additional $ 10,000 ; Vettese said that he conferred with the school district on the topic .
Vettese said that the next phase will be setting the posts for the tennis nets , followed by fine-grading and paving .
“ Weather permitting , probably not next week ; it ’ ll be the following week ,” Vettese said .
Under his report , Rivera said that he inspected the restroom facilities at Hammonton Lake Park .
“ I know there are plans to redo them and make them better , but the lighting in them is like a back-alley subway ,” Rivera said .
Rivera said that he contacted Electri-Tech for a price to upgrade the lights .
“ We ’ re going to paint the insides and clean them up — keep them a little bit cleaner for a little longer — but that lighting ,” Rivera said . Rodio concurred . “ Definitely , especially now , summertime ; the quicker , the better . There ’ s a lot of kids around , so for the summer you want it , for sure ,” Rodio said .
The next meeting of the Public Works and Transportation Committee will be on May 18 .