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Village debating whether to accept McFarland Road,reduce bond amount By Linda Smith Hancharick Warwick The price of oil is affecting people’s pocketbooks in so many ways. Even the village government has to take a look at road bonds while keeping oil costs in mind. Why? When a developer is approved for building a development, the municipality in turn keeps a bond amount that will cover finishing things should the developer skip town. It doesn’t happen often more often the project is completed to specifications and the bond is returned to the developer. However, bonding is how municipalities protect themselves. Blacktopping roads is an oil-based project. With oil prices doubling over the past two years and no end in sight, projecting the cost of blacktopping two, maybe three, years down the road can be a tricky business. The Village of Warwick is in such a position. Normally, a road is completed before the village takes possession. McFarland Road, the road leading to Warwick Grove, the 215-home development for adults 55 and over, is not complete. However, Leyland Associates, the builder, has donated land down the road to the library. If all goes well, this will be the site of Warwick’s new state-of-the-art library. There is a catch the library project cannot begin until the road is a public road. The road isn’t ready for dedication but neither the village nor the developer wants to hold up the library project. There has to be a public referendum on it as well. What to do? The village is looking into taking dedication of the road. There are many things to work out before that happens. One of them is the bond. Currently, the village has a road bond of $250,000. Leyland and Michael Murphy, the village’s engineer, negotiated reducing that bond down to $125,000. But with energy costs escalating, the village board worried about the amount. According to Trustee Roger Metzger, the amount of $125,000 was based on cost estimates for completing the road in 2009. Leyland’s managing engineer, Brian Gitt, said the amount is actually much higher than they anticipate the job costing. Leyland, he said, has a binding contract with a contractor to complete the work for $40,000, less than a third of the bond amount. “This amount was not arrived at arbitrarily,” he said. “We had lengthy discussions.” Village attorney Michael Meth said a bond three times the actual cost seems fine but if the board wants to discuss it further with their engineer, that would be fine too. He recommended the board just not reduce the bond, if that made them feel more secure. Who will plow? Of course, that is not the only issue. Taking control of a road that is not finished is not common. It has been done in the past, but some on this board questioned how much liability this could open the village up to. “I am concerned with accepting dedication of an unfinished road,” said Trustee George McManus. And he is not alone. Trustee Eileen Patterson said she would want it spelled out exactly what the village is responsible for if they do take over. “Are we responsible just for snow plowing?” she asked. Maintaining a road is a lot more than just snow plowing, answered Meth. Paul Gratzel, a representative of Leyland, said it was up to Leyland to provide the product and with a commercial interest they want to build and sell their houses Leyland would come through. Patterson said the board needs to see the details. “I want to see the backup,” she said. “This doesn’t suffice. We can’t just blindly sign this not knowing what you agreed to with Michael Murphy.” Mayor Michael Newhard agreed. “The board felt we don’t have background information on how they made that decision,” he said. “In my mind it’s fine if we take two more weeks and we can protect the village better. We need to protect ourselves.” There may also be an alternative. Newhard said he would talk to both the library and Leyland to see if Leyland could give the library a right-of-way instead of dedicating the road. The rules for this, though, come from the State Department of Education, so there is no wiggle room. The discussion will continue at the Aug. 7 meeting whether to accept the road, reduce the bond, or something in between.