Lake Street projects need input from merchants and residents

Dear Editor,

This is an open letter to Lake Street merchants, tenants, and property owners. 

During the Village of Owego board meeting on Aug. 1, 2016, SUEZ water (Village of Owego’s water supplier) announced they needed to replace the water line under Lake Street because of deterioration in October 2016. The current water line is from the 1880’s and in need of very overdue replacement. 

The Village Board and local merchants were concerned with the timing of this request due to the proximity of the holiday shopping season for our merchants. At the following board meeting (Aug. 15, 2016) the village Board was able to get SUEZ to postpone replacement until April of 2017. 

After that postponement in August, the Village Board has been advised by NYSEG that they need to replace their gas lines and laterals to structures located on Lake Street, also. SUEZ needs to replace the water line running the complete length of Lake Street, along with all water laterals to the structures located on Lake Street. 

Unfortunately, and due to the limited and confined space on Lake Street for projects this size, SUEZ and NYSEG will be unable to work at the same time. The current plan is that SUEZ will do their water line replacement second. 

A meeting with SUEZ and myself concerning the project status was held this week. SUEZ and NYSEG have had conversations during the last few months to allow these projects to be completed as timely as possible. 

From the conversations between the companies and engineers, there is a concern that if the project by SUEZ starts in April 2017 as rescheduled; the completion of both projects will be past the date of Strawberry Festival (June 16 and 17, 2017). This would render the Lake Street corridor unusable during the festival most likely. The street will be closed during these projects and the sidewalks may or may not be open in certain areas (most likely none of the sidewalks open at all during a high density attendee event like Strawberry Festival). 

As per those conversations between SUEZ and NYSEG, we could be looking at a three and a half to four month total completion time for both projects, barring any unforeseen weather or construction delays. The alternate construction dates would begin June 19, 2017 (after the festival) and be completed around first week of October 2017, as a best-case scenario. 

I believe all downtown merchants, Lake Street tenants, and property owners need to have a voice in which time frame would have the lowest negative impact, keeping in mind that there is no good time to have these projects done and the need for them being unavoidable. 

The Village Board will have to make this decision soon and does not want to make it without input from the downtown community, especially. SUEZ will be attending the Village Board meeting on Feb. 21, at 7 p.m. at the Village DPW Building (20 Elm St., Owego). It will be imperative of the merchants, tenants, and property owners to attend this meeting so they understand what SUEZ and NYSEG are up against.

Sincerely,

Steve May

Village of Owego Mayor