Rotterdam upgrading senior center parking

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ROTTERDAM — Parking at the Rotterdam Senior Citizens Center is poised to get a much-needed facelift this year. 

Last Wednesday, the Town Board unanimously approved a contract with the Schenectady-based Ausfeld and Waldruff Land Surveyors to begin initial survey and site mapping of the parking lot located on a 1.6-acre plot of land at 2639 Hamburg St. — the latest in a series of renovations at the center dating back to 2018.

The aging parking lot is beyond resurfacing and is in need of a total reconstruction, according to Fred Mastroianni, the town’s engineering consultant. In addition to cracked pavement, the lot has drainage issues and parking spots that do not comply with the Americans with Disabilities Act.

“Resurfacing the existing parking lot will not correct the pavement distress and less than adequate drainage system,” Mastroianni wrote in a legislative request form urging lawmakers to approve the $3,400 contract.

The surveying firm will complete a topographic survey and will identify underground utilities at the site, as well as curbing, sidewalks and parking stripes among other things. The work, expected to be completed in about a month, is necessary to redesign the lot.

A cost for the upgrades remains unclear at this time. Supervisor Mollie Collins said the upgrades won’t begin until the summer at the earliest.

Collins, who worked at the senior center for 12 years beginning in 2005, said there’s only been patchwork repairs to the parking lot over the years, resulting in a cracked, bumpy surface that can be difficult for some seniors to navigate.

“You want to make sure that they’re walking on level ground and nobody can slip and fall,” she said. “It is important that we get that center up and running.”

The parking lot upgrades are likely to be part of a series of upgrades the town makes to its facilities in the coming months.

In 2022, the town hired an engineering firm to complete an assessment study of its current facilities, including the senior center, Town Hall and court and police station, to determine what upgrades are needed and the cost for the renovations.

The move comes after lawmakers in August voted to nullify a 10-year lease agreement the previous Town Board approved in 2021 that would have moved town facilities into a portion of the old Kmart space at the ViaPort shopping mall.

Last month, the Town Board approved a $12,950 contract to install a new boiler at Town Hall, and bids for the installation of a new roof are expected to be made public in the coming months. A final report detailing a scope of the work and estimates is expected to be revealed sometime this year.

The senior center, originally constructed in the 1930s, underwent extensive renovations that began in 2018 following a flood caused by a toilet that overflowed. The building was expected to reopen in 2020 following months of repairs, but was kept closed due to the emergence of the coronavirus pandemic.

Collins said the building plays a vital role, having hosted a number of town and community events over the years, including the recent Veterans’ Day ceremony and training classes offered by Cornell Cooperative Extension, among other organizations.

The center was also used as a shelter after parts of Rotterdam Junction flooded in 2018 and became the town’s court in the early days of the pandemic to accommodate social distancing requirements mandated by the state.

“We’ve used it for a lot of things over the years and I would really like to see it come back,” Collins said. “Between the renovations and COVID hitting, I don’t think it’s met its full potential yet.”

Contact reporter Chad Arnold at: [email protected] or by calling 518-395-3120.

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