Midland Park February 22, 2012 THE VILLADOM TIMES I • Page 3 The Borough of Midland Park has put the wheels in motion to complete the connection of Glen Avenue homes to Ridgewood’s sanitary sewer system. After finally getting approval for a low-interest loan from the New Jersey Infrastructure Financial Trust, the program designated to administer the original federal stimulus funds, the council at Glen Avenue sewer project receives funding its last meeting introduced an ordinance to sell the bonds for the $600,000 project. The governing body also awarded the contract for the work to low-bidder Crossroad Construction of Newark at a bid price of $119,843. The funds will also pay Ridgewood’s connection fee of $305,000, computed at $5,000 per unit. Plans call for connecting the 61 homes in the Miedama Place/Fairview Avenue/ Glen Avenue area to the Ridgewood main sewer line via a 175-foot gravity main. At present, the flow from the Midland Park homes goes via a pump station and force main to the Northwest Bergen County Utilities Authority in Waldwick. The rest of the borough’s nearly 3,000 sewer connections flow into the NWBCUA via gravity. The 17-year-old pump station at the corner of Glen and Erie avenues has experienced system failures for years, and the 40-year-old force main has had several significant breaks over the past decade, according to borough officials. The extra wastewater is expected to have minimal impact on the Ridgewood system. The additional sanitary flow from Midland Park is expected to be 18,300 gallons per day; Ridgewood discharges 2.5 million gallons per day into its treatment facility in Glen Rock. The borough will have to pay back the $600,000 it is borrowing from the trust fund. The interest rate will average one percent as 75 percent of the loan is interest free, and the remaining 25 percent will be repaid at a rate of four percent. Borough officials determined more than a dozen years ago that connecting to the Ridgewood sewer main would be more economical than upgrading the existing (continued on page 6) Attorney Les Andersen is back advising the Midland Park Board of Adjustment after a 25-year period during which he further developed his land use law expertise and experience throughout the area. The board appointed Andersen as its attorney at a meeting held earlier this month. He succeeds Doug Doyle, who stepped down to pursue other professional interests. A partner in Andersen and Holland for the past 35 years, Andersen has represented applicants before planning boards and zoning boards of adjustment in most local municipalities, including Midland Park, Ridgewood, Wyckoff, Oakland, Franklin Lakes, Fair Lawn, Saddle River, Allendale, Ramsey, and Hawthorne. Les Andersen appointed as legal counsel to board “I am grateful for the opportunity to resume my representation of the zoning board after a 25-year hiatus. Over the years, I have been privileged to serve as a member of various boards and organizations in Midland Park. I hope and expect that the zoning board will benefit not only from my legal expertise but also my concern for the best interests of Midland Park and its residents,” Andersen said. After stepping down as the zoning board attorney in 1987, he served as a member of the Midland Park Master Plan Review Committee. He was elected to the Midland Park Board of Education in 1994 and served until 2001. He is currently a member of the Midland Park Memorial Library Board.