EAST PALESTINE City takes steps toward growth

Growth to the southeast is blocked by rough terrain and the state line.
By NANCY TULLIS
VINDICATOR SALEM BUREAU
EAST PALESTINE -- Mayor Raymond Hull has charged council with the task of doing everything in its power to help the city grow.
City Manager Gary Clark told council Monday the city is poised for growth through annexation in all directions but one. Growth to the southeast is blocked by rough terrain and the state line, he said. Clark said he is working on growth plans one step at a time. He said he is finding that in many areas of the city, there has been no surveying done for years.
Clark said he has searched through 60- and 70-year-old records at the Columbiana County Courthouse to find records of past surveying; then he visits a site only to find the previous surveying markers have been long since removed. Clark said keeping track of the various stages of many projects at once is complicated, as each project has many layers, but he hopes to put an overall growth plan together for council's review.
Extending sewer line: Council gave Clark the go-ahead on a plan to extend sewer services to the northwest side of the city. Extension of 1,100 feet of sewer line and a pumping station will cost about $63,000, he said. An alternative plan using a gravity system without a pump would be about 2,100 feet and cost $72,000, he said.
Bridge replacement: Clark also said he is working with county Engineer Bert Dawson's office on plans to replace two bridges.
He said Dawson's office will do engineering, design and other bid preparation work for $23,750 for the two-lane Kemple Road bridge, and for $7,500 for the single-lane Morris Road bridge.
Clark said both are on roads leading to potential growth areas. Kemple Road leads to the area of the former electric light plant and 40 acres that could see industrial development, he said.
Morris Road is in the city lake area, where Clark has been planning improvements aimed at preparing the site for residential development. The city owns about 50 acres in the area, including the seven-acre lake.