Katonah Memorial Park playground project moves forward

BEDFORD, N.Y. - Swings—a playground staple for more than a century but notably absent from Katonah Memorial Park—are expected to be, well, in full swing there by this fall.

Swings were the No. 1 ask in a survey of residents and will be included in the park’s $600,000 playground makeover.

Chris Soi, Bedford’s superintendent of recreation and parks, touched on the swings and a host of other improvements in a 22-minute presentation at the Town Board’s July 14 meeting, the only one scheduled this month. Soi said 217 residents had answered the department’s April survey, asking what specific attractions the park should replace or add.

”The top responses were swings,” he said, describing “a rousing voice from the community that we need to have swings.”

Also on the priority list were new safety surfacing to replace the current wood chips, a larger playground, fencing and benches. Artificial turf meant specifically for playgrounds will replace the wood chips, Soi said.

The superintendent said his department as well as its citizen advisory committee sought proposals from several playground-equipment vendors before settling on Kompan Inc., a Danish company “known for their unique designs.”

“Kompan and Danicka [Russo, a company representative in New York] seemed to really knock it out of the park,” Soi said.

Russo, appearing via a Zoom link, said, “I love that this [playground] design is a direct result of community feedback. . . . There was a massive request for swings.”

Councilmember Stephanie McCaine, asked whether she had any questions, laughed and said, “Just one. Where was this playground 50 years ago?”

She called the planned upgrade “amazing” and said, “I really appreciate all the thought and care that was put into it, not only from the public-engagement feedback but also from that institutional knowledge of what works and what doesn’t.”

The park’s facelift, paid for with $500,000 in borrowing and a $100,000 state grant, is expected to be completed by November.

AAA CREDIT RATING

Earning its customary clean bill of fiscal health in an independent audit, Bedford has maintained the town’s longtime AAA bond rating.

With that designation, the highest awarded by Moody’s and other credit-rating agencies, Bedford can borrow at the lowest available interest rates to meet long-term expenses for things like equipment buys, road repairs and other construction.

Alan Kassay, a partner in the auditing firm PKF O’Connor Davies, delivered the audit report at the Town Board’s July 16 meeting, the only one scheduled this month. He congratulated town officials for attaining the best possible audit outcome.

“We have issued an unmodified opinion—a clean opinion—and the town has maintained its triple-A bond rating,” Kassay said. “I think it’s been at least 20, 25 years that you’ve maintained that rating,” an achievement he described as “pretty good” for a small town to do.

Supervisor Ellen Calves thanked Kassay as well as Comptroller Brian Kenneally and his finance office staff for their work on the audit report. “It’s another strong financial-management year,” she said.

FREE PFAS ALERT

A high school student, winner of this year’s Bedford 2030 Greenlight Award, told the Town Board last week how anyone can learn, at no cost, their water supply’s potential PFAS risk.

Parvathy Gopikrishna, who will be a senior in September at Horace Greeley High School in Chappaqua, created WaterWatch Westchester. By typing a home address into its website, anyone in the county can get a free estimate of their water’s risk of contamination toxic per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances pose for their water.

Those man-made compounds, dubbed “forever chemicals” because they break down so slowly, have been linked, among many things, to increased risk of some cancers, low birth weight, high blood pressure during pregnancy, thyroid disease and kidney or liver damage.

“Any logical homeowner would think, ‘I should probably test my water for this,’” Gopikrishna told the board. “However, professional testing, which is the only proper way to do it, can cost anywhere from $300 to $600, which is just not affordable for many families.”

So, she created the waterwatch-westchester.com website, a free web tool that uses an open-source geo-spatial database and an algorithm Gopikrishna developed to predict the PFAS contamination risk for any specific address in Westchester.

Councilmember Bobbi Bittker was a judge at this spring’s B2030 Greenlight Awards, where Gopikrishna took first place in the finals. Impressed, Bittker invited her to speak at the board meeting.

LARGE-LOT FREEZE

The Town Board put over till next month consideration of a six-month freeze on subdivisions constructing five or more homes on properties of more than 20 acres.

A public hearing on a proposed local law imposing the moratorium on any acreage of that size was opened at the July 14 board meeting but adjourned to Aug. 11 after one speaker. The local law that was the subject of last week’s hearing dealt only with land size, not the number of housing units. A revised law, making clear the freeze will apply only to developments with at least five houses going up, is expected to be posted in advance of the August hearing.

Calves said the board was asking for the development halt as it awaits reports from both its Conservation Board and housing task force that could affect large-lot applications.

ARENA RETIRES

James Arena, assistant road maintenance foreman, will retire, effective next Monday (July 27), from the Department of Public Works, where he’s served for 34 years.

“Jimmy definitely did it well,” DPW Commissioner Kevin Winn said. Addressing the Town Board, he described Arena as being “known for his strong work ethic. He’s been through many regular days and lots of emergency days, cutting down trees, dealing with the utilities, spending a lot of time away from family for snowstorms and all the things that go along with DPW. . . . We will miss him and appreciate him.”