MCKINLEY HEIGHTS County takes step to install sewers

The consent order has not yet been approved by the state.
By STEPHEN SIFF
VINDICATOR TRUMBULL STAFF
WARREN -- Trumbull County commissioners are expected to approve a consent order today that will mandate the installation of sewers for 154 mostly residential customers in McKinley Heights.
The project is expected to cost about $2.2 million and must be completed by August 2007 regardless of the availability of grants or loans, said Trumbull County Sanitary Engineer Tom Holloway.
The consent decree arises from negotiations with the Ohio Attorney General's office, which represents the Ohio EPA in a 2002 civil complaint against the county charging that raw sewage is draining into a culvert behind McDonald's Restaurant on U.S. Route 422.
A $1.2 million sewer line was built on Robbins Road and Route 422 in 1998 in response to EPA pressure.
In court documents the agency has alleged that this sewer has failed to fix the problem and that more work must be done.
Spokespeople for the Ohio EPA and the attorney general decline to comment on the consent order until it is signed by both parties.
Areas affected
The consent decree calls for sewer lines to be constructed along the east side of 422 and parts of Garland, Gardenland, Garfield, north and south Glenwood, north Bellwood, Rachel, Ethel and Wabash avenues, Holloway said. The sewer will not reach all homes on all of the streets, Holloway said.
If grant funding can't be obtained for the project, the expense will be billed back to property owners, he said.
County officials are expected to return to court in October for another hearing in the civil case brought by the EPA, which has evolved to include more than a dozen areas throughout the county with septic problems.
Over the last 10 years, the sanitary engineer's office has made about $22 million in improvements to the county's water and septic sewer system, Holloway said.
If the county were to be forced to install sewers in all the areas of concern to the EPA, the cost to property owners could be in excess of $50 million, he said.
siff@vindy.com