Trumbull receives grant for watershed

By Ed Runyan

Land preservation, job growth and future grants are benefits of such a plan.

WARREN — The Trumbull County Planning Commission has received a $100,000 state grant to carry out a “balanced growth plan” for the Lower Mosquito Creek Watershed.

This area is from the south end of Mosquito Lake in Bazetta Township to the Mahoning River at the south end of Niles.

The plan will receive input from the cities of Warren, Niles and Cortland, and the townships of Howland, Bazetta and Weathersfield, said Trish Nuskievicz, assistant planning director for Trumbull County, who will head up the plan.

The watershed area to be included in the plan includes parts of all of those cities and townships, which are some of the most populated areas of the county.

The areas include “some of the highest quality lands for preservation and some of the highest quality lands for development in the county,” Nuskievicz said, adding that most of Howland Township, the Eastwood Mall-area of Niles and the Youngstown-Warren Regional Airport are included.

The goal of the plan is to identify areas that should be preserved and areas that should be developed in the “bowl” formed by the runoff waters and tributaries from Mosquito Creek, Nuskievicz said.

Through the process of creating the plan, residents of those communities, as well as government agencies that work on water and development issues there, will learn how development and preservation upstream affect communities downstream, Nuskievicz said.

The goal is for the parties to agree on what areas are the most suitable for future development and identify them on a map. Developing appropriate areas can lead to job growth, she noted.

Part of the process will be to encourage passage of legislation to bring about the goals identified, such as zoning changes, Nuskievicz said.

One benefit of such a plan is that government grant and loan money is more readily available for conservation or development in areas that have such a plan, she said.

The planning process is expected to take about two years and is likely to begin within a few months.

The grant came courtesy of the Ohio Water Resources Council and Ohio Lake Erie Commission and was one of six awarded last month throughout Ohio. A news release from the two bodies said the greatest threats to the watershed are pollution from development, sediment, erosion and failing home septic systems.

Grants of $100,000 also were awarded to Lake County Planning Commission east of Cleveland and the Mid-Ohio Regional Planning Commission based in Columbus.

Smaller grants were awarded to the Clermont County Soil and Water Conservation District in a fast-growing county just east of Cincinnati ($98,250), Cuyahoga River Community Planning Organization ($57,400) in Summit and Cuyahoga counties, and Medina County Soil and Water Conservation District ($77,120).

“These grants support Lake Erie and Ohio basin watershed planning and improve local economic development and conservation through the application of balanced growth practices,” said Sean Logan, director of the Ohio Department of Natural Resources and Lake Erie Commission chairman.

runyan@vindy.com