The Village of Plandome Board of Trustees is encouraging residents who wish to convert from oil to natural gas energy in their homes to do so before road work begins this spring in preparation for a project to insert new water mains under village roadways.
“At their [National Grid’s] suggestion, we are going to send a letter out to the residents to let them know that if they have any plans to have gas service to do so now before the roads are torn up,” Trustee Andrew Bartels said.
The letter, he added, will be an attempt to avoid a resident coming to the village to request a permit to dig up the road after the project is complete.
“So we’ll open the road once, we pave it, and nobody comes back six months later and says, ‘Oh actually I want to put in natural gas and I’m going to dig up the road and you’re going to have to patch it,’” Bartels said.
The four-inch water mains under the roads are being replaced by eight-inch ones, which is required by Nassau County for fire suppression services, said Elizabeth Kaye, the village clerk.
The project will cost $3.3 million, she said.
Road work is expected to begin in either May or June, officials said. Effected roads will include Brookside Drive, Valley Road, Cross Road, The Ridge, Rockwood Road, Pinewood Road and portions of South Drive, Westgate Boulevard and Central Drive.
Bartels said the plan is to work on small sections of roads at a time, which Bartels said would likely take between two to three weeks apiece.
“The waterways, once they’re in place, will let the patch sit for about a month and let it settle,” Bartels said. “So that means that if we do the waterways in say May that in June they would come back and do the roads. So it’s basically going to be about a June, July, August time frame.”
In April, the village will take bids to find a contractor for the project, officials said.
In the meantime, trustees are getting ready to notify residents who are considering converting their heating systems from oil to natural gas energy to do so as soon as possible.
Bartels and Mayor Lloyd Williams, who recently met with two National Grid representatives about the project, said that the company appeared to be flexible if someone needs to get under the roads to convert to natural gas while they’re working.
