TRUMBULL COUNTY Panel vacates highways at nursing home

Efforts are ongoing to bring sewers to the turnpike interchange and beyond.
WARREN -- Six Trumbull County "highways" at the shuttered county nursing home in Brookfield were vacated Tuesday so the property eventually can be sold.
They were called county highways and designated as such for county maintenance purposes. But really the internal streets on the 39-acre grounds off state Route 7 are no longer maintained.
The nursing home closed in the early 1980s; the county acquired the land from the federal government in the 1960s.
The Trumbull County Planning Commission vacated the highways -- 1162 A-F -- but not McMullen Street (county highway 1162), which provides access to the property. The roads also provide access to a county water tower and two county communications towers.
Nothing now for sale
Nothing now is for sale. The action gets the county out from under the roads' upkeep and maintenance if it is sold.
Commissioner James Tsagaris noted the site is among the highest spots in the county and most scenic, but it requires a cleanup effort.
Sewer extension
Also Tuesday, the planning commission made note of ongoing efforts to fund a sanitary sewer extension along state Route 5. This would serve U.S. Safety Gear, 4196 W. Market St.
Warren Township trustees have lamented the fact that the company is relocating because of odors from the nearby Warren Hills landfill. The business has a new site on Route 5 east of Carter Lumber but needs help with the sanitary sewer extension.
The county can apply for up to 60 percent of the estimated $400,000 sewer project from the Community Development Block Grant program, and may ask county commissioners to commit funds from the county's revolving loan fund as a grant for the project.
The planning commission staff already is trying to construct a sanitary sewer at the Ohio Turnpike interchange; a bid for that project was rejected because it exceeded available funding by $120,000.
The staff has prepared a grant application requesting $150,000 from the state Issue 2 program; funding also includes $250,000 from the county revolving loan fund, $250,000 from businesses and property owners near the interchange, and $200,000 from tax increment financing.
Acid ponds
In other business, the commission staff is working with state and federal agencies to close the acid ponds at the former Copperweld Steel plant near the Mahoning River. This site could be used to dispose of 70,000 cubic yards of dredged sediments from the river. This would reduce the cost for the Ohio EPA to close the acid pits, and could go toward a required local match for the Mahoning River Restoration Project.
The Mahoning Valley Port Authority is a potential sponsor for the first phase of the project; dredging could start in 2006.
Trish Nuskievicz, the commission's environmental specialist, said the port authority in February will discuss what responsibilities it will take on; if the authority declines, the Army Corps of Engineers will look at Trumbull and Mahoning counties to sponsor the program.