Owego Mayor Baratta issues New Year’s progress report on village projects

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From Owego Mayor Mike Baratta: I wanted to start the New Year off with updating everyone on projects going on in the Village of Owego. As many of you know, we have many projects in the works right now thanks to our $10M Downtown Revitalization Initiative grant we received from New York State. These village-owned projects are finally coming to life.

Mayor Mike Baratta / WEBO Photo

I will outline each village project with a status, and expected schedule.

Southside Lighting

This project will re-energize the streetlights on the south side of the Court Street bridge, down to the on ramps each way for Route 17. This project has completed design and is currently getting DOT permits, and will be bid out to prospective contractors near the end of February for spring construction.

Parking Lots

This project will repave all village parking lots and better lay them out with more obvious signage for easy identification. These include the lot behind the movie theater, the Court Street lot, the county lot behind CVS and the Hyde lot. This project also includes an infrastructure improvement in the Court Street lot to replace a sewer line running behind Lake Street. This project is in final design and will be bid out to prospective contractors near the end of February for spring construction.

Marvin Park

This project will completely rebuild the bathroom facilities, resurface the existing basketball and tennis court, repair the pillars at the entrance, add signage, replace the fencing along Main Street, improve the walking trail, add to the existing playground and resurface the play area to new standards, and completely rebuild the skate park with a “cast in place” concrete design. This project is in final design and will be bid out to prospective contractors near the end of February for spring construction.

Central Fire Station

This project will put a new roof on our historic fire station as well as restore the historic clock tower. This project is in design and is scheduled to be bid to contractors later in the winter for summer construction.

Water Front Project

This project includes improvements to the riverwalk for easier maintaince, improvements to Draper Park to add a preforming area and kayak dock, and improvements to the nature trails along the Owego Creek. This project is in design and is scheduled to be bid to contractors later in the winter for summer construction.

North Ave Art Park

This project turns the vacant “pit” next to Fire Station No.  2, across from the Community Shop, into a new village park focused on the arts. This project is in conceptual design, an overall shape and layout have been defined and our architects are refining the designs with a more detailed schedule to follow.

This update is just for the projects of the DRI that the Village of Owego is responsible for managing, there are many other projects awarded to private business or other organizations that are also progressing in design or construction. As you can see we have a lot of dust to look forward to this coming summer, but this all means a better village for everyone who lives, works and enjoys spending their time here in Owego.

We as a Village Board are committed to working hard to keep our projects moving forward in a transparent way, and on budget. These projects are 100% funded by NY State with no local match and are not costing taxpayers any extra tax revenue. As always our board meetings and any work sessions are available live in person at 22 Elm St., or online via Go To Meeting software, and we also record and post them to YouTube, just search Village of Owego to find our channel.