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I am pleased to announce that Senator Pete Harkham has granted the Village of Ossining five streams of funding via the NYS Community Resiliency, Economic Sustainability, and Technology Program (CREST). It was my honor to stand with representatives from other municipalities in the 40th district to receive the newest of the grants. The CREST funding we've received from the Senator over the past two years enables many beneficial projects, including the construction of a new playground, solarization of police headquarters, transportation for Ossining's Youth Bureau, and decontamination equipment for our volunteer fire department.
CREST FUNDING
Sparta Park Playground Project – Playground Equipment to be Installed September 2024.
The Sparta Park Playground project will create a new playground space in Sparta Park for children and families in the Village of Ossining to enjoy.
Sparta Park is located at 1 Hudson Street in the Village of Ossining in a densely developed and socioeconomically diverse residential neighborhood. Many families live in multifamily residences with little or no yard space. One of several smaller parks located in the downtown district, Sparta Park provides a river-view oasis for children and families. The Park has an old, outdated playground unit that is in dire need of replacement. A new playground will create a fun, safe, and welcoming location for the many young children who live in this area. This project is part of ongoing efforts in the Village to update and improve the park system.
The total cost of this project is estimated at $98,986.66, and the Village of Ossining is requesting this amount for playground equipment with a capacity of up to 25 children at any one time. This will include a play structure for ages 2-5, along with safety surfacing for added safety. The Village will own and maintain the playground.
Birdsall-Fagan Police/Court Facility Solar Roof.
The Birdsall-Fagan Police/Court Facility Solar Roof project is further testament to the Village of Ossining’s commitment to solarization and environmental sustainability. This Solar Roof project represents a continuation of initiatives that were initiated in 2015 when the Village participated in the Solarize! Program for home and business owners, teaming with Sustainable Westchester to offer an educational series along with pre-vetted contractors to perform the work for interested property owners. However, at that time, there were no programs in place to help municipalities do the same. In the interim, the Village continued to pursue alternatives, including the all-renewable electric supply through Sustainable Westchester’s, and replaced our streetlights with LED fixtures (which saved us, and by extension, taxpayers money).
CREST funding will allow us to augment Ossining's current solarization projects by offsetting the cost of a much-needed new roof at the Birdsall-Fagan Police Headquarters and Court Facility and funding a rooftop solar array located in the heart of the Village
OSSINING FIRE DEPARTMENT.
The Ossining Fire Department boasts a membership of roughly 450, likely making it the largest all-volunteer Department in New York State. It is also among the oldest—the modern-day OFD was organized in May of 1812 before the Village of Ossining itself was state-chartered in 1813. While being the oldest and largest comes with well-deserved prestige, it also comes with challenges, and for OFD, the primary challenge relates to facilities. While nine companies operate out of seven buildings of varying age and condition, there is at present only one site (OFD Headquarters at 21 State Street, the newest building) that allows for gear washing. Unfortunately, though centrally located, the building and the equipment have limited capacity with respect not only to the volume of gear that can be turned around quickly but also the type: the current equipment only washes jackets and pants, requiring members of OFD to clean their boots, helmets, bottles and air packs by hand.
Concerns about contamination have been at the forefront of the Village's capital planning for the OFD since a recent consolidation study, partially funded through the Department of State's LGE program, revealed a number of deficiencies in the physical plant of the Department's firehouses, particularly with respect to decontamination following a fire event. As a direct result of the data gathered by the study, the Village is actively preparing to design and construct a state-of-the-art, multi-company facility on the northern end of the OFD's coverage area (which encompasses the entire Village of Ossining and the majority of the Unincorporated Town of Ossining) which will include several decontamination-specific safety elements, including a large decontamination suite featuring washers, dryers and "hot zone" facilities separated from the building's common areas. Siting the new combined facility, as well as the design and construction process, will likely take between three and five years to complete; in the meanwhile, there is a shared understanding among the OFD and Village Administration that more immediate intervention is necessary.
$50,000 in CREST funding will allow a number of elements to be introduced into the existing decontamination area at OFD Headquarters, including a new high-volume PPE washer/ extractor ($15K) and PPE dryer ($20K), which will service all nine companies—both pieces of equipment will accommodate not only gear but also boots, bottles, air packs, and helmets, removing the need for these items to be manually cleaned. Renovations to the space ($15K) will allow for increased space to house the equipment (which is considerably larger than what is used at present), as well as a single-use "hot zone" restroom/ changing area that can be used by department members who are removing their contaminated equipment. This work can be undertaken and completed well within a year to the health & safety benefit of all OFD members and their families.
CREST grant – $100K - Transportation Vehicles for Youth Bureau.
CREST grant $100K - Capital Need (project recommendations in process).
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