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Engineering and utilities: Madison plans solar carport, GIS mapping and PFAS review; Cook Avenue, Dodge Field projects near completion
Summary
Engineering and land‑use staff told the council about near‑complete Cook Avenue parking, a $700,000 grant‑funded accessible playground, an upcoming solar carport at the recreation center, a water system return‑to‑service and a boroughwide GIS mapping effort; PFAS regulatory compliance was flagged as an emerging cost and design issue.
Madison engineering and utilities staff briefed the mayor and council on capital work, utility projects and a new GIS program at the Feb. 26 budget hearing, reporting major grants for playground work, near-completion of the Cook Avenue parking-lot project, plans for the borough’s first solar carport and attention to PFAS water-treatment compliance.
Dennis Harrington, assistant engineer, described 2024 accomplishments including mill-and-overlay road work done through the Morris County cooperative, near-completion of the Cook Avenue parking-lot project with rain‑garden work remaining, and construction of an accessible playground at Dodge Field funded largely by county and Green Acres grants. Harrington said the Dodge Field project total was nearly $700,000 to date and largely covered by grants; remaining site furnishing items will be completed with leftover grant funds.
Harrington said the borough’s Well B project was back online and is a punch‑list stage rather than a production issue. He also said some emergency repairs in 2024 addressed an at‑risk sanitary manhole and structural work at the DPW garage.
On energy, Harrington said design and structural work for the Madison Recreation Center solar carport are finalized and the borough expects to break ground this month. He called the carport “a significant alternative energy source for the borough, our first solar project.”
Ryan Fury, the new project manager in engineering, outlined a boroughwide GIS initiative to consolidate maps of three utilities on the Esri platform and overlay the electric utility data so all assets sit in a single system. “GIS ... it's a geographic information system. Right? So it's basically an overview of your entire town, and it's like a big map,” Fury said, adding that a consolidated platform would support asset inventory, load management and hydraulic modeling.
Fury also discussed water priorities: replacing aging transmission mains and service lines to reduce unaccounted-for water loss and a full evaluation of treatment systems to anticipate new federal and state regulations. On PFAS, Fury summarized federal and state action and said the borough is reviewing historic sampling and planning for possible treatment or interconnection solutions. “The borough currently, is in compliance with those,” he said of PFAS levels, and staff are evaluating measures to meet anticipated lower federal limits.
Council members asked that work on problematic stormwater areas such as West Lane be prioritized and emphasized the need for regional solutions to increasing storm intensity. Harrington said some issues require comprehensive regional approaches rather than piecemeal fixes.
Staff also reviewed land‑use permit volumes (about 667 zoning permit applications in the year) and noted grant applications under way for further mill‑and‑overlay projects and trail work. The engineering presentation included goals to continue public-construction projects, secure grant funding and plan for a larger reconstruction project in coming years.
