The Village of Old Westbury Board of Trustees unanimously approved on Tuesday plans for a one-million-gallon ground-level water storage tank near the village’s border with East Hills.
Village Administrator Brian Ridgway said the project, which is estimated to cost about $3 million, would be funded by a bond to be approved at the next meeting. Ridgway also said the amount is a round figure until bids are returned.
D&B Architects and Engineers Senior Vice President William Merklin presented to the trustees, on behalf of the village’s Water Department, the plan for a partly buried ground-level storage tank along Whitney-Phipps-Garvin Drive, which Mayor Fred Carillo said is technically a village easement, not a public road, and has two entrances: one on Glen Cove Road and another from Old Westbury Country Club.
The road has a gate in the middle which is almost always locked, Carillo said.
In an effort to keep a promise to residents to not install an elevated water tower, Merklin planned for a water tank that will be about 20 feet high above the ground but hidden behind the existing Well No. 6 station building.
The tank will be placed in the village’s high zone, which consists of the northeastern half of the village, to take advantage of the natural topography.
“It’s been planned and designed to accommodate the construction of a tank in addition to the well that’s already there,” Merklin said. “This location is ideal because a ground level tank in this location will flow by gravity into the low zone and would work in conjunction with the other low zone tank that already exists. In addition, the Well 6 well, which is really a high zone well, could pump directly into this tank if needed.”
Merklin said the tank would be built with prestressed concrete to help reduce maintenance and increase the life span of the tank, which is estimated at 75 years.
Construction is expected to begin in May and be finished in November, Merklin said, and trucks would be directed to exit the Long Island Expressway at Glen Cove Road and turn right onto Whitney-Phipps-Garvin Drive.
Merklin said of the six-month construction period, trucks would be bringing supplies to the site for about 40 days, including 20 trips in one day for the concrete trucks working on the foundation and 10 trips per day for 10 days to finish site restoration and landscaping.
Carillo also said work would be restricted to Monday through Friday in accordance with the village code.
The plan includes screening, Merklin said, with 41 trees expected to be 18 to 20 feet tall, and the tank will be built into the side of the hill to help obscure one side.
