Community Center on hold at town park

VERNON-The new Maple Grange Community Center building won't be going up any time soon. At its meeting on June 27, the council unanimously agreed to reject the two bids, each of which by far exceeded the state grant amount of $250,000 allocated for the construction of the center. T.M. Brennan Contractors of Hamburg offered to erect the building for $425,500, and Ferraro Construction of Franklin for $635,830. The bids included the cost for installing the building infrastructure: a full basement, electricity and plumbing. They did not include the septic system. In an interview later in the week, Assistant Township Manager Gary Gardner said that the township is exploring its options and trying to decide whether to rebid the proposal or to look into creative ways to get a building of equal quality at a far lower cost. "No one thought we could build the police athletic building for as little as we did. But we succeeded," he said. The building was constructed entirely with donations and volunteer labor, and no township money was used. Just as we did with the PAL building, we're looking at the possibility of using volunteer groups, such as vo-tech students, who would work under the direction of an expert," said Gardner. "We think we can give Vernon a good building at a good cost." Meanwhile, after a groundbreaking ceremony on June 17, work continues on the two Maple Grange ball fields, which Gardner says will be ready for use in September. In June, Vernon awarded Tomco Construction of Wharton a $1 million contract to build two synthetic-turf, multipurpose ball fields and one natural grass lawn. The synthetic turf fields will be ready for the autumn season, and will accommodate football, soccer and lacrosse. The natural lawn will serve as a practice field for other sports. The fields will be equipped with night lighting. A township public works crew is now constructing the catch basin, and will be doing the earth works for at least one of the parking lots. "The September deadline for completing the work is aggressive, but we want to have the field ready for fall sports," township engineer Lou Kneip said. The current construction costs are funded in part from the proceeds of Vernon's $804,000 sale of the Black Creek Lenni-Lenape American Indian site to the Department of Environmental Protection's Green Acres Program. The historic site, which now is part of Wawayanda State Park, will be separated from the body of Maple Grange Park by a roadway. The first phase of the Maple Grange project will cost just under $1.9 million. According to Gardner, the township passed a $2.2 million bond in 1999 to purchase Maple Grange. But in the Nov. 2002 general election, voters defeated by a narrow margin a $1,999,000 bond proposal that would have provided funds to build a more expansive park than Vernon now foresees constructing.