Town Hall to See Improvements at No Cost to Twp.

Access to Memorial Town Hall will be improved this fall, compliments of county grant funds.

The township has been notified that it will receive a Bergen County Community Development Block Grant in keeping with an application filed last fall to fund barrier-free improvements at the municipal building.

Wyckoff applied for a $83,000 grant and will receive $80,346 to construct automatic doors and replace the barrier-free entrance ramp on the West Wing entrance to Town Hall. The governing body unanimously introduced an ordinance Tuesday night that formally accepts the funds and mandates that they be used for their stated purpose of boosting access to Town Hall.

Work is expected to start this fall and be completed before winter.

Once finished, the western entrance will provide even easier access to the building, with the ramp and door directly across from handicapped parking spots.

Although the construction would be in keeping with Americans with Disabilities Act standards, the administration has said it was under no mandate to make the improvements. Rather, applying for the grant was essentially an exercise in due diligence in hopes of acquiring funds that can fund an improvement without cost to the taxpayers.

The grant will fund the entire project, without Wyckoff having to issue bonds or otherwise expend capital funds to finance it.

The Community Block grant program has been used in similar fashion throughout the township, including barrier-free ramps at police headquarters, the Wyckoff Public Library and the Larkin House; barrier-free bathrooms at Town Hall, the library, Larkin and Memorial Field; and barrier-free curbs throughout the township's streets.

The grant program is otherwise used to pay for improvements in municipalities with low- to moderate-income groups. Since Wyckoff's demographics don't fit with that aim, it is eligible for the funds when it desires to remove architectural barriers and improve access for the greater population.