Bloomingdale to make presentation on Rafkind Road improvements

Rafkind Road improvements could get underway as early as April.

PHOTO BY DEBBIE WALSH

Borough Engineer Paul Darmofalski delivers a presentation on a Rafkind Road sidewalk assessment and road-paving project.

Residents who live in the Phase II section were invited to the Feb. 18 Borough Council meeting to hear a presentation on the project, which includes new curbing, sidewalks and paving. Residents will be responsible for paying the costs for sidewalks that bound the front of their properties on Rafkind Road.

Borough Engineer Paul Darmofalski said the total project cost of Phase II is estimated at $835,000 including the cost of the sidewalks. The borough received a $250,000 New Jersey Department of Transportation (DOT) grant for the project. The borough's share of the costs will be $380,000 and the residents' share will be $205,000. The 4-foot-wide sidewalks will be 4 inches thick, and driveway aprons will be 8 inches thick. Darmofalski said a property with 100 feet of frontage will have an estimated assessment of $4,867.

At the onset of the presentation, Mayor Jonathan Dunleavy recalled that when the borough received bids for Phase I of the project last fall, the bids came in 38 percent lower than projections and it is hoped the municipality will have the same luck with Phase II. Dunleavy said Darmofalski uses conservative numbers when coming up with the estimates.

According to the mayor, some residents living in the Phase I area were contemplating sidewalk replacements and had sought contractors' estimates for the work. Dunleavy said these residents were pleased with the borough's projections, which came in lower than private contractor estimates. Phase I, which stretches from Glen Road to the end by Martha B. Day School, and Phase II, which encompasses Rafkind Road from Union Avenue to Glen Road, will be completed at the same time.

Dunleavy told residents that the borough acts as the banker for the project. It will bond the project and assess residents based on linear footage. The interest rate secured will likely be in the 0.75- to 1.5-percent range, and the project will be paid for over a 10-year period. If residents recently replaced their sidewalks, they should arrange for Darmofalski to inspect the sidewalk.

Darmofalski said Phase I consisted of 60 properties and 25 of those property owners asked him to visit to complete a sidewalk or apron inspection. Of the 25, 15 did not have to replace their sidewalks or a portion of their sidewalks.

"Most of what we kept was new or almost new. I can't have a checkerboard," he said.

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Bloomingdale to make presentation on Rafkind Road improvements