By MIKE SCHENKLER

 

A future picture of the wall on the great lawn off of Shore

No, calm down, the deal is not done.

However, since inheriting the job of bringing the Village a new Village Hall & Club, can perhaps see an end in sight – a very positive end.

Stay with me; let me explain.

The dream of a Port North Village Club a place where resident members can go for summer swim with the family, shoot some hoops, play some tennis and relax in our beautiful waterfront Village is a dream conceived of some five years ago by a prior Board of Trustees. Bob Weitzner is perhaps the only present member of the Board who dates back to a rushed idea conceived in the heat of a political campaign.

But the idea was good and had traction. The old Board moved, retired, stepped aside and somehow some three years ago asked me to see the concept to fruition as chairman of the Village Club Commission. Even stranger, I said I would try.

The task was to determine and generate the support, provide funding, plan and construct a Village Club with membership open to Port North residents. Simple?

The first complication occurred when the developer of Mill Pond estates reneged on his commitment to build Port North a new Village Hall. So the project became more complicated and costly – build a new Village Hall and Village Club. Soon, it had to accommodate the new Village Court and to respect the commitment to the Village there would be an open space park concept thrown in.

Now, the Board of Trustees I’ve been on for some three years is committed to the project – each and every member of the present Board is all for it. Only one thing, they did not want to use tax levy funds. They want no increase in taxes to fund this dream. Needless to say, the task was and still is challenging.

But after several disappointments and some modification in approach, it appears that it may just be doable. Here’s how:

We are in contract to sell our less than 8-acre parcel off of Valley Rd., granting zoning rights to build up to 45 senior citizen townhouses. We expect to close this fall. We are in contract with the new owners of the T h o m p s o n / D a n a h e r factory to acquire: the Village Green (their front lawn); the existing 10,000 sq ft Woods Building which would be reconfigured to serve as Village Hall/Village Court and Village Club; and additional land for parking and the construction of a large swimming pool, kiddy pool and up to three tennis courts. This contract will close as soon as we have funds from the sale of our parcel.

We have negotiated with Publisher’s Clearinghouse and have reached understanding to purchase the less than acre parcel behind the factory building to preserved as parkland.

It is anticipated that the proceeds from the sale of our parcel will exceed the cost purchase of the Danaher parcel and Woods building, the Publisher’s parcel as well as renovation and reconfiguring of the Woods Building, the construction of the pools tennis courts, landscaping as well as some additional funds for enhancing the parkland.

All numbers and details will all be shared with you as soon as plans move to the next phase.

Mike Schenkler can be reached at: news@portwashingtonnorth.org