$3M more awarded for Calverton Sewer District
The Riverhead Town Board on Tuesday awarded four contracts Tuesday for construction related to $10.5 million Calverton Sewer District upgrade.
The district, created in 1952 when Grumman Corporation operated at the formerly Navy-owned site, still uses technology from that era, according to officials, who said this will be its first upgrade. The upgrade is needed for the future development at the Enterprise Park at Calverton and it will eliminate discharging into McKay Lake.
The town had acquired about $7 million in grants for the project, but estimated costs have increased by about $3 million since the last estimate in 2009. As a result, board voted Tuesday to issue another $3 million in bonds for the project.
Councilwoman Jodi Giglio cast the lone “no” vote on three related resolutions Tuesday. She said she felt the board should wait until it has greater certainty about the proposed sale of 1,643 acres of town-owned land at EPCAL for $40 million, which will bring more users to the sewer district.
Currently, she said, only about eight businesses at EPCAL are connected to the district, and they would bear the entire higher tax burden resulting from the upgrades.
At a meeting last month, Nick Bono of H2M, a consultant for the sewer district, said the upgrade would result in a 56% tax increase for those businesses — from 23 cents to $13 per $1,000 of assessed value.
State law requires that municipal bids be broken down into, in this case, general construction, electrical, plumbing and force main/recharge bed construction. A total of 18 bids were received. The low bidders were chosen in all four cases, although the one withdrew due to an error and the next lowest bid was chosen.
