LITTLE VALLEY — Cattaraugus County lawmakers voted Wednesday to hire an engineering firm to design a replacement to the Franklinville Highway Barn.
The 10-bay highway barn built in 1954 was damaged by fire last Halloween. The county received a $1.2 million insurance settlement and last month demolished the cement block building.
Wendel WD, Architecture, Engineering, Surveying and Landscape Architecture, of Williamsville, proposed preliminary and final design services for the new highway barn costing up to $240,000.
Public Works Engineering Director Mark Burr said the county is looking for design documents it can use to bid the project early next year.
County officials are hoping for a construction schedule that can complete the building in time for the 2019-20 winter season. Snowplows will be stored outside again this winter at the Franklinville site.
The Franklinville barn covered 100 miles of the county’s 400 miles of roads. The size of the Franklinville district made it difficult to combine it with either the Allegany or West Valley barns.
“Is this the official start of replacement of the Franklinville Highway Barn?” asked County Legislature Chairman James J. Snyder after a 16-0 vote. One legislator, Robert Breton, R-Franklinville, was absent.
“It’s about time,” replied Vergilio “Dick” Giardini, D-Allegany, who is chairman of the Public Works Committee and pushed for an earlier start to replace the Franklinville garage. “They didn’t want to demolish it,” he said of many committee members.
The resolution for immediate consideration was cosponsored by 16 members of the County Legislature. One seat was open due to the resignation of Robert E. Neal Sr., R-Randolph, on Sept. 14.
The county will put the $1.2 million insurance settlement toward the cost of a new 12,000-square-foot facility. Cost estimates are in the $4.8 million range.
Snyder said county officials are studying options of paying for the facility including borrowing the difference between the cost and the insurance settlement, or even paying cash or some or all of the cost.
At last week’s Public Works Committee meeting it was disclosed the site plan calls for rotating the new building 180 degrees from its old position so the doors will face away from Route 16. The new doors will also be larger to accommodate today’s wider trucks.
A new fuel system will include above-ground tanks similar to those installed last year at the Allegany Highway Barn.
County lawmakers also approved a local law that amends one passed earlier this year to provide for free admission to the county-operated Onoville Marina to disabled veterans.
Giardini, the prime sponsor of the benefit, was later urged to add active duty military personnel and reservists.
“We should all be proud we’re doing something for the veterans,” Giardini told fellow lawmakers. “These people are the backbone of the country.”
Proof is required, including the New York State Lifetime Liberty Pass or the Federal America the Beautiful pass.
IN OTHER ACTION, legislators:
(Contact reporter Rick Miller at rmiller@oleantimesherald.com. Follow him on Twitter, @RMillerOTH)
