Rockaway Avenue move nears

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Fare explained that it will likely be more than a year before the building is open to the public. Once the courtroom finally moves there, he said, he hopes it will bring more people to Rockaway Avenue to shop and eat there.

When the law enforcement annex opens, the Recreation Department will gain more space at the Firemen’s Field Clubhouse, which it currently shares with Public Safety. Additionally, with Code Enforcement moving out of Village Hall, Fare said that the remaining departments will have more space there. The existing courtroom would still be used for village board meetings, and Fare would also like to host cultural arts performances there in the future.

Hendrickson Park projects

Work is continuing at the Hendrickson Park pool complex to renovate the bathrooms, which have not been upgraded since the facility opened in 1960. Fare said that the steps at the main entrance will be ripped out and replaced with a ramp that runs to street level.

Renovations at the pool complex are a higher priority for the village work force than 195 Rockaway Ave., he said, because the pool has to open in June.

Elsewhere in the park, a new parking lot will be built adjacent to the Community Center, doubling the size of the existing lot. Since the building reopened a few months ago, more events are being held there, and it is also being booked for private parties, which has necessitated the additional parking.

Fare said that the construction of any parking lot would require the removal of some trees, but Hurricane Sandy helped ease the guilt by bringing down several trees. “We didn’t want to take down trees to put in a parking lot,” Fare said. “And then the storm came through.”

Next winter, Fare said, the plan will be to widen the road into the park from two lanes to three — two for traffic and one for pedestrians, bicyclists and skaters.

He explained that the village would soon be relocating the skate park equipment to a blacktopped area of Hendrickson Park between the pool and the miniature golf course.

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