For all those who drive past and watch construction of that ten million dollar Highlands Borough Hall being raised on Route 36 right across from Our Lady of Perpetual Help Church, here are some good news snippets to make you happy.
Work is progressing, not only on time, but ahead of schedule. At this point, it’s only weather that will slow it down in the next month.
As it looks now, by Thanksgiving, the building will be closed 1n, so weather will not be such a factor anymore. Hopefully, work will progress within the walls as quickly as it has until this point.
Closing it in also means all those electric lights that have been shining at both levels of the construction all night and weekends won’t be lighting up the neighborhood anymore. The boro administrator and police chief both said Kappa Construction, the builder and electric bill payer for now, has kept the lights on for safety purposes, as well as so passing patrol cars can get a quick glance between the girders and see if anyone is dancing around inside, just for fun. The property is fenced and the gate locked, but you can never tell what mischievous or daring young folks might want to try after dark.
And if you’ll notice, there are only one or two cars these days parked half on the highway and half on the sidewalk and even that’s going to end before Thanksgiving. Seems some of the laborers have parked on the highway so as not to infringe on residential parking places, but that in itself is a safety hazard and prevents all those folks walking their dogs from easy access to the highway. But within a few weeks, part of what will eventually be the entire parking area for the building will be paved, so all those industrious workers will be able to pull off Route 36 and park right up on the site.
That’s al the good news for this week. For certain there will be more news of all kinds in coming weeks on the construction that has been thought about for years, planned for some, changed again and again and yet, ten years after Sandy, it’s still not a fait accomplis. But it’s costing a heck of a lot more, thanks to some of that early planning and changes.
