Page 4 THE VILLADOM TIMES III • September 12, 2012 Waldwick Residential or commercial units which share a water connection can suffer if there is a water emergency or a shut-off to one of the users. To eliminate this problem in the future, the Waldwick Council is considering actively enforcing a requirement that every water user have its own lateral water connection. “Our ordinances require it,” said Borough Administrator Gary Kratz, whose proposal drew concerns from council members at a meeting last week.. Council eyes stricter enforcement of water meters “Why now, just because it might cause a problem?” asked Councilwoman Anita Bozzo. “It’ll be a $6,000 plumbing job.” “For some it’s going to be expensive,” agreed Councilman Don Sciolaro, noting that the lack of individual connections has no impact on the money collected by the borough for water usage. “It’s a matter of efficiency of the water department in its ability to address any concerns,” explained Kratz. “If we have a break, or a problem which requires the water get turned off at the street, it shuts down an entire building,” he said. Kratz pointed out that adding to the inconvenience is the fact that all the users have to be present when the water is turned on again. Kratz said borough officials have been discovering that there are multiple uses in town with one lateral. These include older homes that have been subdivided into twoor three-family homes, two-unit condos sharing meters, or a multiple-tenant shopping center with more tenants than meters. Kratz gave as an example Hamilton Square on Franklin Turnpike, which he said has approvals for 13 meters but has installed only eight, presumably enough for the original tenants of the shopping center but not for the more Waldwick Police have relocated the school crossing guard at the intersection of West Prospect Street and Hopper Avenue to Franklin Avenue in front of Waldwick High School. “With the four-way stop there, we felt a crossing guard would create confusion for motorists,” said Chief Mark Messner. “It’s a completely restricted intersection. If you cross at the crosswalk, all the cars are already stopped,” said Borough Administrator Gary Kratz. He said the decision Guard moved from four-way stop recent subdivisions. “Now we have 10 uses, and we may get more,” he said, noting that the card store had been subdivided and the previous New York Golf unit may do the same. “It will be difficult for some residents who have had a two-family house for 50 years and now they are required to connect,” pointed out CFO Mary Ann Viviani. Kratz recommended giving property owners five years to make the appropriate connection before incurring any fines. Borough Attorney Craig Bossong suggested making the lateral connection a requirement for the issuance of a certificate of occupancy upon the sale of a property or a change of use. Kratz noted that if done at the time of sale, the cost of installing the meter can become part of the negotiations, and the buyer and seller can share the cost. Kratz said that not all non-compliant homeowners may have to install an additional lateral. He said that if the property has enough water coming in for the new uses, it may be able to install a splitter at the curb without the need to go all the way out to the street. This process would be less expensive, he said, but the property owner would have to get an engineer’s certificate. He said there is precedent for this with other properties in the borough. was made following the resignation of the guard previously stationed there. The busy corner was made into a multi-stop intersection this summer in the interest of safety at the recommendation of Lt. Ed Webber, the police department’s traffic officer. The chief added a police officer monitored the intersection during peak commuter and school traffic all last week and observed no problems. “So far, so good,” Messner said.