Council Approves Handicapped Bathrooms for Vacant Building

The Township Council has approved an ordinance to use a grant for the installation of new bathrooms compliant with the Americans with Disabilities Act at the town’s long-vacant former Police Athletic League building.

The council appropriated $20,125 for the project under a Community Development Block Grant. The work will be funded entirely through the 2010 grant program.

Township Manager William Broughton said he received "numerous" requests from local groups to use the building for meeting space. There was no immediate estimate on when the building could be opened.

"We are still evaluating exactly what needs to be done," Broughton said at the April 23 council meeting. "We're just trying to put in place now the funding so that we can move forward."

Repairs are needed on the structure’s foundation, which could cost around $17,000, Broughton said at a March 5 council meeting.

Councilman Elie Y. Katz, who is pushing to have the building renovated, also said he fielded requests from community groups to use the facility. Katz has pointed to offers from residents to volunteer in rehabbing the structure.

Officials have discussed using the former P.A.L. building as meeting space on and off for the last several years.

Some residents, however, said renovating the building was a waste of township resources.

"This is a sum of money that is not free money. It's a grant," Howard Rose, a township resident, said. "It is tax money being utilized to partially furbish a specific item in a building that has no use or hasn't been used for years for a building that has been deemed very costly to rehabilitate."

Rose said he would prefer to see the building torn down and clear the way for more green space.

Resident Art Vatsky also said he would like to see the building removed.

"There are far more pressing needs in Teaneck than this one," he said.

The rundown structure sits in Mayor Eleanor Kieliszek Park, at Belle Avenue and Route 4.

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