Progress made on Schenectady Stockade pump house plan – Albany Times Union

SCHENECTADY -Stockade residents will within the next month or so likely have a clearer picture of the final design for a new, larger $7.5 million pump station in their historic neighborhood.

"We believe we're moving in a direction that makes at least some of the people happy," said Mike Miller, the project manager and engineer of the latest iteration of the facility.

The preliminary drawings show a four-story structure, two levels of which are underground, on a site adjacent to the existing pump station in Riverside Park.

It also features a dry dock enclosure to protect the generator.

"The idea is to bury as much of the pump station as we can," Miller said, adding the latest concept came at the behest of city leaders who after opposition from some Stockade residents requested that the pump house be built next to the existing facility.

Not long after those drawings were released last week, Stockade Association President Carol DeLaMarter said she was hopeful about what she saw, but still had a lot of questions.

Miller said the plan is to huddle early next week with a small working group and a representative from the State Historic Preservation Office (SHPO) to get feedback on preliminary renderings before meeting in late August with the Stockade Association.

Before any design is approved, it must pass muster with SHPO, which has an official reviewing the project.

"We're getting close to having a final new image to present," architect Frank Gilmore said on Tuesday.

Gilmore said his job working with Miller is "to basically take the massiveness and the contiguousness out of what you see above ground."

For example, he explained that the proposed generator vault would be slightly smaller and located behind the existing one, while a bridge would extend from the upper level of the pavilion to the vault.

"So now you have a view corridor between the buildings, which I think is quite important to relieve the massive feel of that otherwise L-shape structure," Gilmore said.

Construction on the pump house is expected to get underway next year.

Once the new structure is up, it will complement the old historic one, said Miller, adding there have never been any real discussions about tearing it down.

"We've always worked to try to protect and preserve it, that was always our intention, " said Miller, explaining that goal is consistent with the stance of city and state officials as well as preservationists.

Last repaired in 2008, the pump station handles about 60 percent of Schenectady's sewage flow. In 2014, the City Council approved a new pump station in the historic district.

The roughly $7.5 million project would receive $3 million in state New York Rising money, with the city borrowing the rest.

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Progress made on Schenectady Stockade pump house plan - Albany Times Union