The clink and clank of shovels could be heard early morning in parts of Sloatsburg Tuesday as the Department of Public Works continued its spring effort to patch worn roads.
Sloatsburg Mayor Carl Wright said at Tuesday’s board meeting that the village was “taking a beating” from residents on local road conditions and patchy sewer information due to sporadic Rockland Sewer District 1 public communication about scheduled work.
Supervisor Mike DeMartino drove a DPW truck up into Pine Grove Lakes loaded with 2 tons of hot steaming asphalt to patch Council Crest Road before the rain hits on Wednesday. The DPW has already patched along Laurel Road in the Grove and will continue the road facelift effort until Sloatsburg’s potholes are filled.
Patience and asphalt patching are the only solutions to the village’s axle-jarring ruts at this time; Sloatsburg residents will have to wait for smooth flat-top roads.
Village roads were a topic of conversation at the recent Sloatsburg Village Board meeting, where Mayor Carl Wright said, “we’re taking a beating on this,” referring to the condition of local roads and Rockland Sewer District 1 public communication about scheduled work in the area. The mayor asked Trustee Dan O’Leary, who oversees Public Works, to request a letter from the Sewer District that clarifies the current Sloatsburg work schedule so that residents will be better informed.
To date, approximately half of the Sloatsburg sewer work has been completed, with The Flats neighborhood being the only area ready for residents to hook up to sewers. Those parts of the village that haven’t been dug up yet are in the Sewer District budgeting cross-hairs, beginning with Waldron Terrace, where sewer work is scheduled to begin immediately after the Waldron Terrace bridge is installed.
Bridge work is due to begin any day now.
For many years the word was that “sewers are coming to Sloatsburg.” And they are — just very slowly. The Village Board of Trustees has felt the wrath of residents frustration at the glacial pace of the county work. But it has no control over the county bid process or work schedule. And at this point the village must wait for the Sewer district to complete the years-long sewer project that will include fresh-paved roads.
The good news is that the board has heard residents’ road woe cries and is attempting to get clarity on the sewer project progress.
Recently, the Sewer District re-bored roads throughout Pine Grove Lakes to help finalize the bid information that will go out in the fall. The District wanted to determine if the rock under the roads is boulder or ledge, a big difference as ledge rock would involve blasting.
Once the final sewer work does begin in Sloatsburg, it will run concurrently, with some of the various neighborhoods undergoing sewer work projects at the same time. Waldron Terrace will contain the main underground sewer trunk for Pine Grove Lakes, the neighborhood around Sloatsburg Elementary School and the Wadron Terrace neighborhood. So, first Waldron Terrace sewer work, and then the other areas. Afterwards, work will begin on upper Rt. 17, including the Ballard and Academy neighborhood, Liberty Rock, and then Eagle Valley Road and the Sebastian Court area.
