Construction Begins on New DPW Building in Mountainside

MOUNTAINSIDE NJ - Fuscon Enterprises started construction on the new Department of Public Works (DPW) building along Route 22, aiming for completion by the end of this year. The building will store all of the DPW equipment which is right now scattered around the Borough.

The town had been looking for a place to put the Department of Public Works facility once the state of New Jersey removed the street salt supply for the Borough. Once the site, which used to be Viking Pest Control, became available the Borough Council jumped at the opportunity.

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“This is a good location to store stuff because it has access to most of Mountainside's main roads,” Glenn Mortimer, Borough Administrator, said. “And then in case of something happening on the highway, we would have access through the Mountainside Community Pool parking lot which also leads to a main road, Mountain Avenue.”

The town purchased the lot and began construction on a new salt dome. The first hole was dug in March 2024, and since then, the project has progressed significantly, with the foundation poured and the structural steel in place.

The town project cost around $2 million and a large chunk of the money came from the town's sale of the land on Mountain Avenue. The land that is now being used to build the Park West condo complex.

The DPW building will have three big bay doors leading into a garage where the town trucks can park. It will also store the lawnmowers, backhoes, and snowplows that the staff use to keep the Borough clean and safe. All the hand tools the DPW uses will be stored neatly as well as fuel, oil, and spare parts needed for the job.

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“You really shouldn't be leaving these trucks and things outside all year round,” Mortimer said. “Our storage for our other items, our lawn mowers and various pieces of equipment is also kind of out of date and too small. So that was the impetus behind building the Public Works building.”

The building will have gendered bathrooms and showers for the workers to use after they are exposed to the elements and conditions of the job. The new building will even free up some parking spaces at Borough Hall, but most importantly, it will be a more organized and better facility to run the department, according to Mortimer.

Editor's Note: Holliday Woodard, currently a junior at the University of Maryland majoring in Journalism, is participating in the TAPinto Internship Program. For further information about this program, please reach out to bpeer@tapinto.net.

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