By Allison Perrine
RED BANK – The borough’s ask for Broad Street property owners to pay for leaking and aging infrastructure upgrades is seemingly water under the bridge.
At the Jan. 26 virtual council meeting, officials introduced a plan to cover the costs of necessary water main and lateral line replacement along the downtown roadway. In December, retailers and residents were told they would likely have to foot the bill.
But that’s set to change now that officials have agreed to spend the borough’s full share of 2021 federal American Rescue Plan Act funds on the project, nearly $1.18 million, along with $113,000 available from the water-sewer surplus fund balance.
“The problem is the age and the general condition of the main (which) makes it susceptible to failure,” said acting borough administrator and Police Chief Darren McConnell. “That failure could occur in one year or in 10 years – we just don’t know – but the decision was made that it’s best to replace the main at this time based on its age and general condition.”
The leaking galvanized pipe was discovered in late November as the borough kicked off planned roadwork on Broad Street, starting from Front Street to Mechanic Street. That’s when a contractor unearthed “very aged” and leaking water lines believed to have last been replaced in 1997.
“As they are digging, and honestly, they are digging by hand, but just by virtue of the dirt moving, some of these are now leaking and then in need of being replaced,” consulting engineer Laura Neumann of CME Associates told the borough council Dec. 1 when she warned them of the issue. “It’s a cost that an owner isn’t anticipating.” Repairs could cost between $5,000 and $7,000 per lateral, she estimated, and, while there could be up to 100 laterals in need of replacement, that number is most likely around 70.
Weeks later, representatives of Red Bank RiverCenter, a nonprofit that manages the borough’s Special Improvement District, pushed back.
“You break it, you pay for it,” RiverCenter executive director Glenn Carter said to officials Dec. 15. “If the construction didn’t cause these problems, that at least made them worse or accelerated the issues with these services.”
This week, Carter told The Two River Times that RiverCenter believes the borough’s latest effort to pay for the work is “the right thing to do” – and that it has “the right team” to do it.
“First and foremost, it is RiverCenter’s recommendation that all the underground utilities within the project area that need to be replaced, should be replaced. This will prevent future emergency issues created by failing underground infrastructure, future costs of reopening the roadway and future disruptions to the businesses, residents and users of the roadway,” he said.
“RiverCenter has been very pleased with the contractor doing the work, the engineers overseeing the work and the borough’s traffic safety officers dealing with traffic and other issues.”
At the Jan. 26 meeting, borough resident Suzanne Viscomi wondered if the borough paying for this work would be setting a precedent going forward.
“What do you say to families that scraped up enough money to pay the bill themselves?” she questioned.
McConnell explained that the existing borough code calls for the borough to cover the cost of lateral replacement up to the curbline when water mains are replaced, but that it is still the property owner’s responsibility to fix the lateral lines from the curbline to the meter in their building. In circumstances when the borough is not replacing the water main, the responsibility lies entirely on the property owner.
“As far as I know, that’s been the practice,” he said. “That’s why in this case, this is not extraordinary.”
Commenting on this part of the borough code, Carter added that RiverCenter “has, and will continue, to encourage property owners to replace this portion of the water service while the construction is ongoing.”
The article originally appeared in the February 3 – 9, 2022 print edition of The Two River Times.
