Town And School Talk More Dirt
By Doug La Rocque
During the Town Board’s workshop meeting on Thursday, June 27, the Berlin Town Board hosted representatives of the Berlin School District and those contracted to complete the $13 million Capital Improvement Project at the school. The topic of discussion was dirt, and a lot of it. Specifically, what is now estimated to be in the neighborhood of 60,000 cubic yards of soil that must be removed from the school grounds, for the completion of the new baseball and soccer fields, as well as an athletic track. According to Berlin Town Supervisor Rob Jaeger, that amounts to about 4,000 tri-axle truckloads.
The Town is willing to help out, but it won’t be cheap or easy. Supervisor Jaeger said they put out a proposal to allow the contractor, Rifenburg Construction of Brunswick, to dump all the dirt on the town-owned field on Airport Road behind the Route 22 municipal complex, the same place where a soccer field was proposed to be built several years ago. The catch is, the contractor would have to first remove the topsoil, dump all the excavated soil, smooth it out, replace the topsoil and re-seed it.
According to the Supervisor, the school district is receptive to the idea, but the logistics and the cost to the district is still something to be negotiated between all responsible parties.
The Board also received an update on the Water District #2 tower project, more details of which should be a matter for discussion at the next Town Board meeting, on Thursday, July 11.