Psych Center Demo Set to Begin

The long awaited demolition project slated for the former Kings Park Psychiatric Center property is set to begin on July 1.

The work, which was originally scheduled to begin mid-May, will be done by National Salvage and Service Corp., who was awarded a $6.4 million contract for the project.

Officials for the project said, at a meeting held last week with town and local representatives, their goal is to provide as little disruption to the park and local area as possible.

“The goal is to have things operating as normal but not interfere with the process” said New York State Parks Director, Ron Foley, who also said that Kings Park Boulevard and Nissequogue River State Park would remain open and close only if deemed necessary.

The low bid for the project will allow for a total of 19 buildings to be taken down, Foley said following the meeting. A PDF with information on the project can be found in the photo gallery of this article.

High tech monitoring equipment will be used to regulate air quality levels as well as noise levels and a meteorological station will be set up to monitor wind speeds.

Frank Dvirka of Dvirka and Bartilucci, consulting firm for the project, said monitoring boxes would be stationed around the buildings undergoing demolition.

“There will be four stations on the north, south, east and west sides of the building which will monitor dust, volume, organic material and noise,” said  Dvirka “ The monitoring stations will electronically transmit data to a data base."

"If there is an exceeding of threshold for 15 minutes we will stop and figure out a solution,” he said.

A small viewing area will be set up for the public during the demolition of the smokestack, which will now be done by implosion. Dynamite will be used for the blast, which is expected to last about 5 seconds. Special fencing will be set up to contain the debris and Old Dock Road will close for some time during the implosion.

“It is quicker, dust free and easier,” said Foley.

Security, in addition to regular park police, will be on site throughout the demolition process, said Victoria Schopp, president of National Salvage and Service Corporation and added that buildings that are being taken down will be surrounded by construction fence.

"For the most part, the roadways will stay open," said Schopp. "We don't expect a lot of disruption. Hopefully the community won't notice us," she said.

A website, kppccleanup.com, is in the works to keep the public informed with updates on demolition schedules and information and will be run by the parks department. According to officials, the project is expected to be completed in 8 months, though contractual deadlines allow until August of 2013 for the project to be completed.

__________________________________________________________________

Let Patch save you time. Get great local stories like this delivered right to your inbox or smartphone everyday, sign up for our free newsletter.