Garden City Picks Design For New Water Tower

After debating the merits of three water tank styles that were publicly bid upon, Garden City trustees voted unanimously to accept a $6,738,000 bid from Caldwell Tanks for an all steel water tank, with an enhanced paint option.

The new tank will replace the one at Maria Lane and Old Country Road, which was originally constructed in 1933. It was last rehabilitated in 1992, but the village made emergency repairs in 2015 to patch leaks and holes in the tank's roof.

The enhanced paint option should provide significant cost savings over the life of the tank as it will enable the village to only have to paint the tank four instead of five times, according to Department of Public Works Superintendent Joseph DiFrancisco.

Caldwell Tanks is the largest builder of elevated tanks in the world and the only bidder for that style tank.

Additional funding will be needed for construction oversight to be provided by the village’s water consultants, H2M Architects & Engineers, parking lot paving work in the area of the water tower, financing costs and contingency, bringing the total cost of the project to approximately $8 million. A total of $8.7 million was budgeted for the tank's replacement. The Board is weighing different financing options including bonding the entire project, paying cash for the entire project or some combination of the two.

A trio of tank styles were originally discussed: a single pedestal tank, a composite steel tank (which was recently accepted in West Hempstead) and composite glass/infused steel tank. Among the concerns with the tank styles that were rejected was the porous nature of concrete in the Northeastern climate and the aesthetics of a composite tank and the larger shadow it would cast. Statewide Aquastore, Inc.’s bid for a composite/glass-infused steel tank was ultimately rejected because the vendor did not meet bid specifications.

The board ultimately chose the all steel column style tank because of its aesthetics and to minimize any shadow in the surrounding residential neighborhood.

Back in September, trustees engaged the professional services of H2M to provide engineering services for a soil quality investigation at the elevated water storage tank facility. Soil remediation in the area is part of the requirements stated in the bid specifications and will be addressed during the construction process.

Photo: Village of Garden City