PETERSBURG Officials update sewer project

Hookup requirements and costs will vary depending on where residents live.
By MARY GRZEBIENIAK
VINDICATOR CORRESPONDENT
PETERSBURG -- A long-awaited $2.7 million sewer project here is slated to begin construction next July and take 18 months to complete.
About 100 residents brought their questions about the project to an informational meeting Wednesday night at the Petersburg Fire Station. Springfield Township trustees Shirley Heck, Reed Metzka and Lee Kohler also attended.
Joseph Warino, Mahoning County sanitary engineer, and Mark Buchenic of URS Corp., Akron, engineer for the sewer project, gave an update on the project, which has been on the drawing board for several years. Tests of local streams have shown dangerously high levels of bacteria from septic seepage.
Warino explained that funding is virtually assured for the sewer, which consists of two parts. The southern portion, a gravity line, starts at state Route 170 in Petersburg, goes west on Garfield Road, then north on Unity Road to the New Middletown Treatment Plant.
The northern portion, a forced main that relies on pump stations, goes north from the treatment plant to the intersection of Middletown and Unity Roads, then west to Beard Road, north to Calla Road, west to Springfield Road, and north on Unity Road to Five Points. The main pumping station would be at Garfield and Unity roads.
Buchenic said any resident not on the line who would like to be included should contact the sanitary engineer's office.
Costs
Funding, costs and hookup requirements will differ for the two portions of the sewer. Because many grants have been obtained for the southern portion, there will be no front-footage assessment, Warino said.
Residents will be required to pay a $1,300 permit fee, an estimated $1,800 connection fee from the house to the main line, and about $500 for abandonment of their septic tank, Warino said.
He added that the connection fee will be lower than the estimate for most Petersburg residences because it is based on a 150-foot distance to the line. In most cases in Petersburg the distance is less, he said.
He added that grant and loan help will be available for low- to moderate-income residents. Residents within 200 feet of the gravity line must connect to it.
The forced main north of Middletown Road is a voluntary hookup. Costs will be much higher, however, because residents will be required to install a $7,500 pump station on their lots as well as pay a $2,500 front-footage assessment.
They also will pay a $1,300 permit fee and an $800 connection fee. In many cases, Warino said, the septic tank would not have to be abandoned because it could be used in construction of the pump station.
Monthly fees
In both cases, monthly user fees will be about $45 per quarter, he said.
Residents would have the choice of installing a $60 meter or paying an average usage estimate. Costs will not come due until construction is completed, he added. At that time, the county health board will send a letter to residents, who will then have six months to connect.
Warino said Consumers Ohio Water Co. is looking at the economics of extending water service to Petersburg once the sewer line is in.
He asked how many residents would like an informational meeting to be set with the water company and nearly half expressed interest. He also said that extension of sewer lines to New Springfield is anticipated in 2006.