FLOOD PLAIN Grant moves forward to FEMA for final approval

Girard should know if The Flats grant is approved by fall.
By TIM YOVICH
VINDICATOR TRUMBULL STAFF
GIRARD -- The Ohio Emergency Management Agency has decided to advance a grant application to fund the moving of eight households from a city area known as The Flats.
Mayor James J. Melfi applied for the Federal Emergency Management Agency Flood Plain Mitigation Grant in February.
The Flats is under the viaduct between downtown Girard and McDonald. Because it's in the Mahoning River flood plain, the area is frequently flooded during heavy rains.
The area that contains eight older houses was especially hit hard by floods during last summer's thunderstorms.
The application calls for FEMA to pay $477,000 to buy and demolish eight houses with the city paying $159,000 for the $636,000 project.
These are preliminary numbers, Melfi said, noting they are high estimates.
Sima S. Merick, chief of the state emergency agency's mitigation branch, informed Melfi in a letter that the agency is requesting environmental work on The Flats by the Ohio Department of Natural Resources, U.S. Department of Fish and Wildlife and Ohio Historical Society.
This will take between 60 and 90 days, Merick explained.
"After the environmental clearance process is complete, we will submit your project to FEMA for final approval," Merick wrote.
Nothing definite
Christine Hotz, mitigation specialist with the state agency, said Thursday that FEMA has final approval of the grant.
"It's not set in stone. It's not guaranteed," Hotz said of FEMA giving final approval to the grant. The federal agency should make its decision by the fall.
Part of the problem with the project is the city's ability to come up with its share of the costs.
There has been some discussion with city council about taking the city's share out of its revolving loan fund.
A portion of the local share, Melfi said, would come from in-kind services, such as the city doing the engineering and demolition work. It also would include paying city managers supervising the project.
The mayor said the city has to first get the grant approved before determining how much it will have to come up with for the local share.
yovich@vindy.com