LOWER NAZARETH TWP., Pa. — Northampton County officials broke ground Wednesday on a new building for county groundskeepers responsible for maintaining parks and government sites.
The new $2.2 million structure, to rise along Country Club Road in Lower Nazareth near Louise Moore Park, will replace the wooden barn parks department employees now use as a workshop and equipment storage.
Built in the early-to-mid-1800s, the barn leaks in “rain and every other kind of weather event,” county parks superintendent Bryan Cope said.
“When it comes to the summertime or snow removal, we'll be able to come into a dry building and, you know, just take care of our things. We won't have to use a [portable toilet] anymore — that will be nice.”Garrett Weaver, a groundskeeper with Northampton County parks department
Employees share the space with a colony of bats that have taken up residence, Cope said.
Its replacement, a 6,300-square-foot, pre-engineered steel building, will include six garage bays where employees can work on or park county equipment.
Unlike its predecessor, the new building will boast such modern conveniences as indoor plumbing, air conditioning, and a breakroom.
It also should be able to keep out the weather and wildlife.
For crews that work outside year-round, from mowing grass in the heat of the summer to snow removal in the depth of winter, a way to get out of the elements — and better protect the machinery they are working on — will be a welcome improvement.
“When it comes to the summertime or snow removal, we'll be able to come into a dry building and, you know, just take care of our things,” Garrett Weaver, a groundskeeper with the county parks department, said.
“We won't have to use a [portable toilet] anymore — that will be nice.”
'Long overdue' project
Better conditions, officials and workers said, will translate to better service.
“The typical Northampton County resident will notice the difference because our parks department will be even more efficient than they currently are,” Northampton County Executive Lamont McClure said.
“This project has been decades in the building, over many councils and administrations."
Weaver said, “We’ll be able to better manage time as well as keep better care of our parks and our government facilities."
County council unanimously approved a contract in November with BlueScope Construction for design and construction of the new building. Gorski Engineering, through a contract with Blue Scope, will carry out the project.
“This project has been decades in the building, over many councils and administrations,” Cope said, with plans to replace the aging barn stretching back to the '90s.
McClure called the project “long overdue.”
“What took so long to build the park maintenance barn? The McClure administration wasn’t in office,” he said.
“It’s our administration that has that forward-looking vision into the future… as we bring Northampton County government further into the 21st century.”
