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CROSS RIVER, N.Y. The new Lewisboro town offices are officially open for business.
The new workplace for the court clerk, assessor, and planning and zoning departments opened for business Monday morning. Located in the lower level of the Orchard Square shopping center in Cross River (behind DeCiccios Market), the move was a longtime coming. It originally had been scheduled for December, but there were a few stumbling blocks such as an unpaved parking lot that delayed the issuance of the certificate of occupancy.
Those problems were rectified last week when Orchard Square management provided the town with a letter of credit, which allowed the move to finally begin. Town employees seemed happy they were in their new homes at last.
Its been a little hectic, but its going good, said Town Clerk Liz DeFaber. We are preparing for court and just trying to get everything ready.
The new offices include a spacious new courtroom, but court will continued to be at its current location in the Town House until June.
The courtroom and court clerk offices are the only agencies that are moving to the Orchard Square location from the Town House. The rest are coming from the house at Onatru Farm.
What this move has done is make a huge part of our offices ADA (Americans with Disabilities Act) compliant, said Supervisor Peter Parsons. Thats the biggest thing. And now that we are out of [Onatru Farms], we can move forward and make Onatru [farmhouse] ADA compliant as well.
Parsons said the new offices may not be as charming as the old farmhouse, but theyll serve the town employees and residents better.
The best thing is the sheer efficiency of the set-up, he said. It was especially designed to meet our needs. Its not as beautiful as Onatru, but Onatru was not designed to be an office building. This has practical things we should have had, such as a metal detector for our courtroom.
Parsons said that there still are some finishing touches that need to be made on the facility, but it is more than ready to conduct business with the public.
Its functioning, he said. Does that mean everything is done? No, but its functioning.
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