43
Developer balks at sewer cost
girard
A developer has cooled on the possibility of a project in the city’s lakes area after finding out how much it will cost to bring sewers there.
That, along with the amount of wetlands in the area, has been enough to stall, though not stop, talks with the city about a development around the lakes, Girard Mayor Jim Melfi said Thursday.
Melfi will not say who the developer is. The proposal is to build commercial buildings, residences and research buildings. The developer is looking at other sites in the Mahoning Valley as well, Melfi said.
Melfi said that around three months ago, estimates revealed it would be in excess of $1 million to bring sewers to the area through one of two ways: connecting with the county’s sewers on Belmont Avenue or boring under Route 11 to connect with the county’s sewer on Shannon Road.
“We’re working with the developer,” said Melfi, adding that there are federal grants available for sewers.
Girard bought the two lakes, the upper and lower, in 1995 from Ohio Water Service with the intention of making them a private water source instead of remaining a customer of the Mahoning Valley Sanitary District.
The city went into fiscal emergency in 2001, however, and could not afford a water-filtration plant.
The lower lake is dry. The city breached the dam there because it needed repairs the city couldn’t afford.
Now, it pays $242,000 a year for the lakes and will do so until 2015, Melfi told The Vindicator earlier this year.
If the developer wanted to use the lake property, the city would still own it and there would be a partnership of some kind, Melfi has said.
Melfi also reported Thursday that talks about a Joint Economic Development district with Vienna Township for land around the airport appear to be over and never got to a serious stage.