FLOODING Girard to get $385K grant

The area contains eight older homes.
GIRARD -- The city has received word that it will get a $385,000 federal grant to fund the moving of eight households located in the city area known as The Flats.
Mayor James J. Melfi applied for the Federal Emergency Management Agency Flood Plain Mitigation Grant in February 2004.
Fantastic news
"This is absolutely fantastic news," Melfi said Tuesday. "I received a call from George Zokle of CT Consultants this afternoon informing me of the news. I'm very excited."
Zokle said he was notified earlier in the day and believes the grant agreement will be sent to the city in the next few weeks.
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, which contains eight older houses, was especially hit hard by floods during the 2003 summer thunderstorms.
"The people that lived there would have to have boats to get out of there when it flooded," Melfi said. "This mitigation grant will give us the funds to purchase their homes, if they want us too. No one has to do it."
Each home will be appraised. Afterward, the city will make the homeowners an offer, Zokle said.
He says he hopes to begin making the offers sometime in June.
City's plans
If the homeowners agree, the city plans to buy and demolish the eight houses, Melfi said. The homeowners will then receive housing in another neighborhood within the city. The money will also be used to pay for moving expenses.
"I believe we qualified for this grant because this area has a flooding problem and has for years, it's a flood plain," Melfi said.
The mayor stressed that no new homes can be built in The Flats because it doesn't have sanitary sewer service.
Melfi suggested that a ball field could replace the houses that would be demolished.
One stipulation of the grant is that the city has to put forward some f money to complete the project, which might cost more than $500,000.
A portion of the local share, Melfi said, could 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.