There is $8.6 million available for communities' infrastructure projects
Staff report
youngstown
Mahoning Valley communities learn Tuesday if they will receive funding for the wish list of projects submitted to the Ohio Public Works Commission.
The District 6 Public Works Integrating Committee is in charge of deciding which communities in Trumbull and Mahoning counties will receive money for various projects that primarily focus on infrastructure improvement. The committee has $8,639,000 in allocation funds, in three categories. There also is an additional $15 million available statewide in both grants and loans for areas with a population lower than 5,000.
Representatives from the sanitary engineer’s offices in Mahoning and Trumbull counties are on the committee, as well as representatives from local government including township trustees and city mayors. The engineers for both counties are on the committee, as is a member of the private sector.
The Eastgate Regional Council of Governments is the administrator of the program.
Committee members review the applications and evaluate them using state requirements. There is an 11-criteria ranking process in which each project is given points. Only projects with 69 or more points will be given funding.
There also are bubble projects for each county. Bubble projects use money from other previous projects that went back to the district because the project ended up costing less than estimated.
The Mahoning County Sanitary Engineer’s office said a water tower for Canfield Township is a priority project that is estimated to cost more than $2 million. The requested OPWC grant money is $750,000. Officials have said the water tower is necessary to increase water pressure for the businesses on U.S. Route 224 and for safety purposes.
Other communities requesting grant funding are Youngstown, Austintown, Boardman, Canfield, Liberty, Hubbard and Hubbard Township.
Youngstown has two projects. Resurfacing of Fifth Avenue is likely to be funded, said Charles Shasho, deputy director of the city’s public works department.
That project — from the Madison Avenue Expressway to Gypsy Lane — isn’t slated to start until 2015. The project’s total cost is estimated to be $1,320,800. The city would receive $264,160 from the state. The rest of the money, $1,056,640, is coming from the federal government, Shasho said.
The other Youngstown project may not receive funding this year, but likely would move to the top of the funding list next year, Shasho said. That’s fine, he said, because the city wouldn’t do that work until 2015.
That project includes resurfacing and installing new traffic signals on four streets: Gypsy Lane between Logan and Fifth avenues, Kirk Road from Meridian to Bears Den roads, Martin Luther King Jr. Boulevard from Rayen to Belmont avenues, and Hazelwood Avenue from Mahoning to Donald avenues. That project is estimated to cost $967,848 with $338,747 in state funding and the rest in federal dollars, Shasho said.
Boardman Township requested funding for the 2014 infrastructure repair project. Township Administrator Jason Loree said roughly 20 roads need attention. The estimated cost for this project is $653,000, and more than $254,000 in OPWC grant funding was requested.
Austintown Administrator Mike Dockry said the township received OPWC grant funds in the past to fix LeHarps Road off Meridian Road. There is now an issue with an underground water source that keeps water on the road. The plan is to install drains so the water no longer damages the pavement. The cost of the project is estimated at $190,000, and the township requested $131,100 in OPWC grant funding.
The city of Canfield’s project is to replace the storm-sewer system on Fairview Drive. The estimated cost is $216,000, and $149,040 was requested for OPWC grant funding.
Among the Trumbull County communities expecting to get final approval for OPWC funds is Howland Township, in line to get a $224,250 grant, which will be added to the township’s $350,750 for a $575,000 road-resurfacing project in 2014.
The township typically pays about $500,000 of township funds to carry out $500,000 worth of road resurfacing each year, but elimination of inheritance taxes and reductions in the state’s Local Government Fund will make that impossible in 2014, said Darlene St. George, township administrator.
The 2014 paving projects include ones on Anderson Avenue, Howland Springs Road, Crestview Avenue, Pleasant Valley Drive, Raccoon Drive, Rolling Meadows Drive, Boston Avenue, Ridge Road, Wilson Avenue and Kenmore Avenue.
Weathersfield Township trustees will apply for a $74,938 grant to resurface Warner Road, with a township match of $33,667 for a total of $108,606. The project would be done in 2014.