ROTTERDAM Concrete company offers to build park BY JUSTIN MASON Gazette Reporter
Bonded Concrete is willing to build a park in Rotterdam Junction free of charge, except for several million cubic yards of gravel. Engineer Andy Clemente said the company would build a “passive park” for the town, complete with island chains and a shallow lake area more conducive to wildlife habitat. The company would build a 35-space parking area and a protective berm by the nearby railroad yard and even offer a $400,000 grant for future projects in the hamlet. “The town would get a park available at no cost,” he said during a board meeting last week. All the town would need to do is provide Bonded with 10 years and the rights to mine the 78-acre townowned property. In total, Clemente said Bonded would take about 2 million cubic yards of gravel from the site. Clemente said removing the material would be necessary to create the biodiversity needed in the area. Absent any changes, he said the areas now known as East Pond and West Pond would become one lake with variable depth that can support teeming wildlife. Walking paths would be built between the island chains, and a shallow wetland area would be established. Clemente said the project would be phased in over the next decade, which would allow the town to bond out the work. At any time, he said Rotterdam could select another company to do the work. “Anyone could bid on the project,” he said. “We’re just saying we’d do it for free.” MINING BANNED Of course, there are plenty of obstacles preventing Bonded from doing any work in the area — namely, the town’s deed for the property specifically restricts any mining on the property, which was once owned by the company. Throughout the 1980s, Bonded had wanted to mine gravel and sand from the property. The land had previously been scoured of its materials between the 1940 and 1970s, until a lengthy litigation erupted between the town, Bonded and Schenectady International. Schenectady International —now the SI Group —feared further mining of the property would taint the well heads feeding the company plant on nearby Route 5S..............>>>>.............>>>>....................http://www.dailygazette.net/De.....r01302&AppName=1
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