Water projects will get funding

By Denise Dick

Included on the list are six flood-control projects that were shelved in 2007 because of a lack of money.

BOARDMAN — Fifteen township stormwater projects, totaling about $6 million, have been tapped to receive federal stimulus funding.

A project each in Sebring, Warren and Lowellville and five each in Youngstown and Columbiana County round out the list of Mahoning Valley water projects to receive the money through the Ohio Environmental Protection Agency.

“We submitted 15 projects for funding and received funding for all 15,” said Larry Wilson, township road superintendent.

“Half of the money is guaranteed,” Wilson said. “The other half is through loans — about $3.5 million in loans — that have to be paid back over 20 years.”

Included on the list are the six flood-control projects that had been set to go but were put on hold by trustees in 2007 because the township didn’t have the money to complete them.

Those six projects were developed after flooding plagued parts of the township in 2003 and 2004 when heavy rain deluged parts of the Valley.

“These are projects that had been shelved because we didn’t have the money,” said Larry Moliterno, trustee chairman. “Without a change in the economy, they probably would have remained on hold for the foreseeable future, so this is great that we got this money.”

Gary Diorio of MS Consultants, the township engineering firm, said the interest on the water pollution control loans is about 3.75 percent, and contracts for the work must be signed by February 2010. That interest rate could be lower if the township qualifies financially.

“We’re just in the first steps of this right now,” Diorio said.

Administrator Jason Loree said the township intends to bid many of the projects in a block to try to get the best price.

It’s possible some of the projects could come in under the estimated costs, and that excess money could be used to cover costs of the other projects, Diorio said.

Youngstowns’s projects include combined sewer separation and a roof replacement at the waste treatment plant. In Sebring, the federal dollars are for construction of waste treatment plant improvements and in Lowellville, it’s to abate waste treatment plant flooding.

Warren’s project, which includes $500,000 in stimulus funding and no loan, is for a waste pollution control hydroelectric project.

denise_dick@vindy.com