SAXTONS RIVER — Saxtons River residents will have an opportunity to hear the latest update on the village's park project at an open meeting Monday, April 13, at 6:30 p.m., at the elementary school.
The session precedes the village's annual meeting at 7 p.m.
Julie Moir Messervy of JMMDS Design Studio in Saxtons River will present plans, a section, and perspective sketches and will outline the cost savings that underpin the JMMDS plan. JMMDS, LE Environmental of Waterbury, Grover Engineering, and Hartgen Archeological Associates constitute the professional team chosen this year to carry the project forward.
The plan incorporates remediation of the toxic elements present at the site and is funded under a $275,500 grant from the Environmental Protection Agency, plus other grants and individual contributions.
The Village Trustees and local volunteers have brought the park project from its inception, through the initial Terrigenous design developed three years ago, to its current form. They anticipate the start of construction this summer.
The proposed park area along the Saxtons River was once the site of a gas station, several water-powered mills, and other businesses. It became contaminated through oil spills, chemicals used in manufacture and the conflagration that destroyed the mills on Good Friday in 1959.
The remediation of the toxic substances that resulted will be incorporated into the construction of the park through capping with geotextiles and plantings to discourage disturbance of the soil.