George Young Community Center closes briefly after frozen pipe break

A frozen pipe break forced the George Young Community Center in Jamesport to close earlier this week until further notice for repairs, which caused several Riverhead Town Recreational Department programs to be canceled or relocated.

Riverhead Town engineer Ken Testa said in a call late Thursday, Feb. 12, the town was alerted to the pipe break after a janitor discovered about an inch of water pooling in the basement on Tuesday. Grounds crew immediately shut the water off once they arrived onsite.

The engineer said it is difficult for heat to move between basement ceiling and the upper floor, which caused the pipe to freeze and fracture near the exterior wall in the ceiling. However, Mr. Testa said the pipe burst “wasn’t too extreme” and the water was contained to the basement.

It took about a day and a half to clean up the flooded areas of the community center. Once the broken pipe thawed out, it was repaired and the ceiling tiles were also replaced.

“We think we got it all buttoned up,” Mr. Testa said. “The building was all cleaned out today, and we expect it to be back open [Friday] morning. We just want to make sure that there are no other leaks from the repairs we made.”

Riverhead Town Supervisor Jerry Halpin made an announcement about the temporary shutter of the century-old building and former elementary schoolhouse at the Thursday morning town board work session.

“Our amazing buildings and grounds crew was there cleaning it up,” Mr. Halpin said. “In the future at one of these work sessions we’re going to be talking about fixing that heat system, which has been kind of been band aided together … We’re so thankful that no one was hurt, nothing happened and it was just property damage.”

Ashley Schandel, assistant superintendent of the Riverhead Parks and Recreation Department, told town officials notices have been sent out to program participants to alert them of any cancellations, relocations or postponements.

Slime Time with Ms. Ashley scheduled for 6:30 p.m. on Thursday, Feb. 12, has been moved to Riverhead Town Hall. The Movie & Crafts Night on Friday, Feb. 13, at 6 p.m. will now be held at town hall as well.

Both the Cheer with Coach Dee and Morning Yoga youth classes are canceled for the week. Outside groups such as homeschooling, meetings for the Long Island Mineral And Geology Society, Alcoholics Anonymous, bridge club and the Riverhead/Jamesport Homemakers are also canceled.

The week-long February Break Camp that begins on Tuesday, Feb. 17, for children in kindergarten through sixth grade may be moved to Pulaski Street Elementary School instead, Ms. Schandel said at the work session.

Those with questions or anyone in need of updates about classes or reservations the Recreation Department at 631-727-3200, ext. 737.

Mr. Testa remarked on the uptick in frozen pipes plaguing the North Fork due to the continuous brutal cold weather in the region.

Southold-based Hansen Plumbing and Heating has fielded more than 10 calls for frozen pipes since the arctic blast began last month, owner Trey Hansen told Riverhead News-Review. Fellow Southold business Burt’s Reliable has handled five such emergencies, according to service manager Mark Block. 

“We haven’t had these kind of problems in a long time,” Mr. Testa said. “That cold stretch really got to us.”