Page 10 THE VILLADOM TIMES I • May 30, 2012 Franklin Lakes Construction begins on business district sewer line by Frank J. McMahon A groundbreaking ceremony for the $5.2 million sanitary sewer project in the Franklin Lakes business district was held May 14 at the intersection of Susquehanna and Pulis avenues. The event was hosted by the Northwest Bergen County Utilities Authority commissioners and staff, headed by Chairman William Dator. Bergen County Executive Kathleen Donovan attended along with several Franklin Lakes officials, including Mayor Frank Bivona, Councilwomen Paulette Ramsey and Nathalie Lota, and Franklin Lakes Borough Administrator Gregory Hart. The NBCUA project is viewed as historic for its safeguard of groundwater quality and the elimination of environmental harm from the potential failure of aging septic systems in that area. The work is expected to take 15 to 18 months. According to the NBCUA, Franklin Lakes was created as one of the region’s premier lakeside residential communities enhanced by an attractive array of recreational amenities which, until now, relied on individual septic systems. A major focus for this project is the elimination of six treatment plants and septic systems serving business, retail, and school facilities in the business district, and some residential areas. Residences along the new sewer line route will also have access to it, but officials have made it clear there will be no mandatory tie-ins, unless required by law for failing systems. Upon completion, Dator advised that the system will initially carry 90,000 gallons of wastewater per day to NBCUA’s Waldwick plant for processing but, should the borough dramatically expand that volume in the future, the NBCUA plant will still be well within its design limit. The project is being funded by construction loans the NBCUA obtained through New Jersey Environmental Infrastructure Trust at one percent, which is well below market rates. The authority was also successful in winning a $1.025 million loan forgiveness grant, which is almost 20 percent of the loan amount. The sanitary sewer line to be installed in Franklin Lakes is intended to improve the groundwater quality in the business district and allow the Franklin Crossing, Franklin Square, and Franklin Lakes shopping centers, the Horizon and Mountain Shadows housing complexes, and the Franklin Avenue Middle School to abandon their private package treatment plants and eliminate some individual septic systems. The sewer line will also allow businesses in that area to modernize and expand. Keith Henderson, an engineer for the NBCUA, advised that the initial flow from the sewer main would be 88,720 gallons per day, but the system would have the future flow capacity of 225,000 gallons per day. Henderson also advised that a pumping station will be constructed at the Franklin Crossing Shopping Center, and the gravityfed sanitary sewer main will extend from that area under Route 287 and the railroad tracks east along Franklin Avenue to Pulis Avenue and then along Pulis Avenue ultimately to connect to the gravity sewer on Chapel Road in Mahwah. A force-fed sanitary sewer line will also be installed from Franklin Avenue along Susquehanna Avenue to Pulis Avenue to convey the borough’s flow to the NBCUA system. The NBCUA service area accommodates the sewer requirements of 75,000 residents in Franklin Lakes, Allendale, Ho-Ho-Kus, Mahwah, Midland Park, Ramsey, Saddle River, Upper Saddle River, Waldwick and Wyckoff. The Village of Ridgewood also has a service agreement with the authority. Franklin Lakes Mayor Frank Bivona has declared the borough’s support for the state’s Click it or Ticket seat belt mobilization program both locally and nationally. The program, which began May 21 and will last to June 3 in the borough, increases awareness of the benefits of seat belt use. During the Click it or Ticket campaign, police will be cracking down on unbuck- Mayor supports seat belt mobilization program led motorists and their passengers while conducting a zero-tolerance program of enforcement of the safety belt laws. The annual initiative includes high visibility law enforcement seat belt checkpoints and saturation patrols, and local and national publicity designed to ensure that drivers and passengers recognize the life-saving (continued on page 19)