Herald - Lantern - Dispatch 23 October '85 25

|K<% ■ • =i r Dori. Ward COURTHOUSE EXPANSION — Architect Edwin Howell (far right) and attorney Paul Ambrose present the county's plan to renovate its courts complex to the Middle Township Sewerage Commission. From left are: township engineer Charles Kona, and commission members Jeanne DeVico. Albert Karaso. Phil Heck. Michael Mills and James Killian. Seated with his back to the camera is plant operator Walter Turnier.

Expansion Depends On MUA Regional Plant

By GREGG LAWSON COURT HOUSE - Middle Township sewage commissioners last week gave conditional approval for a county plan to expand its courts complex. Final acceptance depends on completion of the Municipal Utilities Authority (MUA) Seven Mile Beach-Middle Region treatment facility in Crest Haven and the township's ability to pipe sewage to it. The MUA plant is scheduled to go on-line by June 1987 and the county expects the expansion project to be completed no earlier than October of that year. Middle Township's facility is reportedly at 100 percent capacity now. The commission unanimously voted Oct. 15 to approve the expansion in concept and authorized it's engineer. Charles Kona. to meet with a county engineer to study whether the township's existing sewage lines can handle the added flow. NO DETERMINATION was made as to who will pay for the study or any repair work. The project will increase the courthouse flow from 4.500 gallons per day to an estimated 10,000 and the commission is unsure if its main line can handle the flow to the new plant. Free Trees Are Bonus NEBRASKA CITY - Ten free flowering trees will be given to people who join the National Arbor Day Foundation during October. The foundation will give two White Dogwood, two American Redbud. two European Mountain ash. two Washington Hawthorn and two Flowering Crab trees to members joining during Octobor. To become a member of the foundation and to receive the free trees, a $10 membership contribution should be sent to Flowering Trees, National Arbor Day Foundation, 100 Arbor Ave., Nebreska City, NE 68410. by Oct. 31.

"We don't know right now whether our pipes can handle it, or if we will have a back-up and toilets overflowing in the building and residents' homes," Kona said. "THERE HAS TO BE a study done to determine what kind of shape the pipe is in now," commission member Jeanne DeVico told this newspaper. "It probably will be necessary to rehabilitate it." The last study was done in 1977, she said. But Assistant County Engineer James A. Mott said the bigger structure will produce less flow because it will house the same number of employes and will have new plumbing and water conservation fixtures. The commission is aware of this, but is required to rule on the application on the basis of paperwork submitted by the county. The papers showing an increased flow are the result of state regulations requiring that flow be calculated according to square footage. "WE USE THE SAME criteria for every application, and are very consistent about the way projected flow is calculated," DeVico said. Options for determining the capacity of the main line range from simple observation to complex and expensive engineering studies. Attorney Paul Ambrose, architect Edwin Howell and Mott. the three men who represented the county. argued that the com- • mission should pay for the study. "The county comes here with an application and all the numbers and then we have to tell you if you can handle it?" Ambrose asked the board. CHAIRMAN ALBERT KARASO replied that the board has no money for a study and that it would take longer than the four to six weeks requested by the county. Mott said he came into the meeting assuming that the commissioners have a working knowledge of their systems's capacity, but Karaso said the scope of tfie project presents difficulties. "You are talking about turning an antiquated building into a super-

structure," he said. Kona and a county engineer are expected to confer before the next meeting on Nov. 19. Karaso said an informal conference between the county and commission may also precede the meeting. THE FIRST STEP of the county's plan, the building of a records room, is under way and scheduled to be completed by February It will be located at the former Cape May County Savings and Loan building, adjacent to the courthouse, which now houses the county clerk's office. An addition on the back will expand it by 2,500 square feet. After its completion, courthouse employes will be moved to county airport Building No. 8. Erma. and work will begin on the courts complex The renovation will add 44.000 square feet to the courthouse. While under way. the existing sewer and water systems will be closed. Flow from the records room is expected to increase from 113 gallons per day to 1.000 The commission unanimously approved that tie-in, under the condi tion that the courthouse is closed and its plumbing off at the time the records room goes on-line. "Actual flow will decrease because the courthouse will be evacuated and Port-A-Potties will be in place." Mott said. "And during evacuation, courthouse employes will be out of the jurisdiction of this plant." THE RENOVATION, which will take 18-24 months to finish, will include the addition of a holding area for prisoners, a garage, and a probation office. The project was initiated in response to an anticipated increase in court /Cases, employes, and ' growth in the county, according to Howell. In other business, the commission unanimously voted to accept a sludge removal bid from Caprioni Cesspool Service in Belleplain pending approval by the engineer and solicitor. Terms of the contract would be five cleanings in the next 14 months for a lump sum of $25,000. No other bids were received.

County Asks Additional Parking

(From Page 1) would be willing to reach some type of formal agreement over parking for county employes in the municipal parking lot." Alexis, who said he agreed with the freeholders that the lot is "underutilized." cautioned that the township is "strongly considering" an addition to its Mechanic Street municipal hall to house offices now in annex at 209 S. Main St. i Route 9). That would add another 20 cars. Alexis said. The courts' move to temporary facilities at the county airport is linked to completion of a new record room adjacent to the court house, according to Freeholder James S. Kilpatrick Jr. Current thinking is that the room will be finished by late winter or spring and the renovation will take 18-24 months. That would bring courts employes back to Court House by the spring of 1988 The county complex, which includes courts, library office building, probation and prosecutor, totals 171 employes, according to planner Robert Bonner. The county assumes 10 percent are off (vacation, sick, etc.) at any given time. 10 walk to work, 20 ride Fare-Free Transportation, and 12 are in car pools. That leaves a net number of county employe cars of 1 12 each weekday. Planning Director Elwood Jarmer, who studied the parking problem and came up with a half-dozen potential solutions, pointed out that "the county (courts) could have gone to Crest Haven, but the township wanted it here." Other than use of the Boyd Street lot. the remainder of Jarmer's options, which he described as "fallback," appeared unsatisfactory. They included: • "Market" Fare Free Transportation and carpooling so fewer employes would drive to work. • Shuttle jurors from another location, such as Crest Haven, which Jarmer said

was "easier said than done." • Joint use of the parking lot of Our Lady of the Angels Roman Catholic Church at 106 Mechanic St.. just west of the Parkway. Jarmer said that lot fe little used except during church functions, usually evenings and weekends. • Some 25-30 county cars are parking on county lot most of the time, and probably don't need to be. But. Jarmer conceded, that number would not solve the problem • A gate limiting access to the county lot to county employes. Freeholder William E. Sturm Jr. said a number of noncounty employes — whether merchants, store employes, shoppers, etc., use the county lot. "We're a good neighbor," he said. "We don't say anything. But we're not the small, little sleepy town we once were." Jarmer's list included installing parking meters in town, "a township responsibility, to get turnover. But the commercial people would react negatively to that." Kilpatrick. an Ocean City attorney, pointed out that few county seats have free parking. Talking about gates and paid parking. Jarmer commented. "I don't know if we're ready for that. But two years from now, there will be a different kind of activity here." Sturm said the county provided some federal revenue-sharing funds to the township in the mid-70s for the municipal lot. "That lot is not utilized to any degree." he said. "And it can handle more cars than it's marked for presently. Our own lot is not utilized properly Employes should have an assigned position and park there every day. Somewhere down the road. I can see that coming." "Meters are somewhere down the road." observed Jarmer. "I don't like that." said Sturm. "Not at this time," agreed Jarmer. a Court House resident.

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