Westhampton Beach Village Board Awards New Sewer Contracts

Work will begin soon on upgrades to the Suffolk County sewage treatment plant at Francis S. Gabreski Airport in Westhampton — the next step in efforts by the Village of Westhampton Beach to create a sewer district in the Main Street business district.

With little fanfare, the Village Board on May 18 approved two of three bids to complete the work, and members expect to approve the final and third bid at the board’s next meeting on June 2, according to Mayor Maria Moore.

The board awarded the two initial bids to W.H.M. Plumbing and Heating Contractors Inc. of East Setauket. The third bid will be awarded to Eldor Contracting Corporation of Holtsville.

The work at the airport — to increase the plant’s capacity by 50 percent to 150,000 gallons of affluent daily — was broken down into three sections, general work, plumbing work and electrical work.

W.H.M. Plumbing will complete the general portion for $776,363 and the plumbing portion for $2.8 million. Eldor will complete the electrical work for $749,000.

The village went out to bid in March, and the bid opening took place on April 28, Moore said. H2M Architects and Engineers of Melville, which has been overseeing the project for the village, recommended accepting the three bids, according to Moore.

The cost of that portion of the project will be paid for primarily through grants, officials have said. The State Department of Environmental Conservation awarded the village a $3.3 million grant at the end of 2021, which will be combined with a $250,000 Suffolk County grant. Before receiving the grants, the village had expected to bond out the cost, passing it along to taxpayers. Officials were elated to learn early this year that residents would be spared that cost.

At the same time, the village has been moving forward with the $13 million installation of two miles of sewer lines throughout the business district, as well as some businesses and condominiums south of Main Street, along a route to the county plant at Gabreski. That project began last April and is expected to be completed by this summer. As part of that project, three village parking lots have been upgraded, at a cost of $1.2 million, taking advantage of the need to dig up the lots to lay the sewer lines.

The majority of that cost will also be covered by state grants and Southampton CPF funds, meaning the entire project — installing the sewer lines and upgrading the airport plant — will not have a tax impact on residents.

The project has two goals: providing an economic boost to the business district by allowing greater housing and business opportunities, and helping to improve the water quality of Moniebogue Bay and Moniebogue Canal, where current septic systems drain.

The expected environmental benefits helped secure both the CPF funding and the various state grants, officials have said.

The project is expected to eliminate about 5,000 pounds of nitrogen annually, reducing waste to the bay by 24 percent.

It will also loosen restrictions in the business district imposed by Suffolk County based on current sewage flow, allowing for more bars and restaurants and second-floor apartments.

The deal with the county to upgrade and utilize the treatment plant at the airport saved the village the millions of dollars it would have cost to build its own plant.

Moore had said previously that combined with the Main Street redevelopment project completed two years ago, private investment had already increased in the business district, with new restaurants and businesses recognizing the value of the infrastructure project, with more to follow. She expects that an increased tax base will offer a direct benefit to village taxpayers.

Of the latest three bids being approved, Moore said she was pleased that they came in at the expected cost.

“With all the supply chain interruptions and increased materials costs, we were pleasantly surprised that the bids came in just as estimated almost two years ago by our engineers,” she said. “I’m looking forward to getting a meeting on the books with the selected contractors so we can sign the necessary contracts and begin the next important phase of the project.”