Lynbrook is moving forward with plans to replace the leaking roof of the Greis Park Recreation Center, a project complicated by the solar hot-water system used to heat the village pool.
The Village Board voted Sept. 14 to solicit competitive bids for the work, which would include replacing the existing roof and portions of the wooden sheathing beneath it.
The village received an informal roofing proposal of $123,000, along with an estimated additional cost of $22,000 to remove and reinstall the solar equipment. The board did not award a construction contract at the meeting.
Officials also discussed whether it would be more cost-effective to reinstall the existing solar equipment, which was installed around 2012 to 2014, or replace or eliminate it. Village counsel recommended completing a formal payback analysis before making that decision.
“You don’t have to make any decision tonight about the solar panels,” counsel told the board, “but until we do a payback analysis, formal payback analysis, that’ll determine whether you want to abandon the solar hot water system or have it reinstalled.”
Trustees also raised concerns about the building’s Yankee gutters, which are built into the roof and have required repeated repairs because of leaks.
“They’ve always been kind of problematic,” an official said during the discussion.
After officials explained that the gutters had previously been tarred to address leaks, board members expressed support for replacing them with conventional gutters as part of the work.
“If they constantly leak and they were fixed multiple times,” one official said, “it’s a headache. Parts cause more problems, more chance of a leak.”
Officials said the village wants to move quickly so the project can be completed before the recreation center and pool need the roof in the spring.
“We need to fix it now,” officials said.
