Empire residents will notice a little more activity along the waterfront this week and next as the beach improvement project gets under way.

At the end of March, village officials had to call off a planned preconstruction meeting for the $481,200 project after learning of a moratorium on state-funded grants enacted by Gov. Jennifer Granholm. The moratorium came after the village secured a grant through the state Department of Natural Resources’ Natural Resources Trust Fund.

Empire officials subsequently learned that the grant had been funded, and was not part of Granholm’s moratorium. At the Empire Village Council meeting on Tuesday, trustee Linda Payment, chair of the council’s parks committee, said a preconstruction project meeting was held with the contractor, Kal Excavating of Omena, on Thursday, April 19, and that work is starting this week.

“Work on the new bathrooms will start the first week in May,” she said.

Village Department of Public Works employees Leonard Shalda and John Friend completed much of the demolition at the beach area last fall with removal of existing bathroom facilities. The new beach park area will come with new restroom facilities, an improved parking area, better lighting, and other aesthetic improvements.

One question that the beach project subcommittee still must answer: what color will the new beach lamp posts be?

Council president Susan Carpenter said the beach committee needs to make a decision quickly since it takes 12 to 14 weeks to make the light posts. Payment said the beach committee will meet this week to pick the colors of all materials to be used in the project. Most of the work should be completed by the end of June for the beach project.