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Poland sewer project targets health
Federal, state and county money would fund the project.
POLAND — A new $2.7 million, 31‚Ñ2-mile-long sanitary sewer is designed to improve public health and promote economic development along the U.S. Route 224 business corridor in Poland Township.
Construction could begin as soon as July 2009, with completion in the fall of 2011, according to Joseph V. Warino, Mahoning County sanitary engineer.
The project will be discussed at the Mahoning County commissioners meeting at 11 a.m. today at Poland Township Hall, 3339 Dobbins Road.
The new gravity sewer, which will have no pump stations, will run along Luteran Lane, James Street and Poland Center Drive, U.S. Route 224 and Struthers and Arrel Smith roads to the Struthers Sewage Treatment Plant on Lowellville Road. Some 106 homes and businesses would be served by the new sewer.
“It’ll open up a corridor along 224 for some additional growth and development, as well as serve the health issues of Luteran, James and Center Street,” Warino said.
The largest funding source for the project is $1,279,000 in federal money secured by U.S. Rep. Tim Ryan of Niles, D-17th, and administered by the Army Corps of Engineers.
Matching funds would include a $650,000 grant from the Ohio Public Works Commission, $500,000 from the federal Community Development Block Grant Program and $271,000 in county funds.
The project is designed to eliminate aging and unhealthful septic systems, which the county health department says have a history of failure. The health department has recorded high levels of bacteria in roadside ditches in the area to be served by the new sewer, Warino said.
Rather than investing $20,000 in a new septic system, households within 200 feet of the new sewer line will pay about $4,000 each to make the required connection to it within six months after it is completed and to abandon their septic systems, Warino said.
The sewer line west of the project has reached maximum capacity, forcing a moratorium on development; and Warino said county officials hope to divert some of its flow to the new sewer line.
The sewer pipe will be 8 inches in diameter along Poland Center Drive, James Street and Luteran Lane and 12 inches along U.S. Route 224 and Struthers and Arrel Smith roads.
The local share of the sewer installation project may provide local matching money to leverage additional federal highway funds to allow the repair and reopening of Arrel Smith Road, which has been closed to motor vehicles for 10 years due to its state of disrepair, Warino said.
In recent years, Struthers, Lowellville and Poland officials have proposed reopening that road, which includes a steep hill en route to the Mahoning River valley at Lowellville, Warino said.
County officials have already had their first meeting with Army Corps of Engineers officials concerning federal requirements for the sewer project, Warino said.
The sewer installation will cause minimal traffic disruption because most of the pipe will be buried beneath the berms and not beneath the road, he said.
The project was first proposed in 1982 at a cost of about $873,000, but, due to inflation, today’s project cost has tripled to $2.7 million, Warino noted.
“We’re just double-whammied because all our materials are petroleum-driven — the pipe, the materials we use — plus you’re paying for the fuel and the equipment costs that are all petroleum-driven. Construction costs are just going through the roof” due to fuel price increases, Warino said.
The project has been long delayed because, in the 1980s, matching funds from local government were unavailable and local residents opposed being assessed 25 percent of the project cost, he said.