43
Canfield trustees to apply for funding for Starr Centre Drive project
By ROBERT CONNELLY
CANFIELD
Township officials on Wednesday narrowed plans for a road project to submit for state funding.
Officials had a special meeting to discuss submitting plans for a Starr Centre Drive project for grant funding and taking out a loan through the Ohio Public Works Commission.
Canfield Township submitted a proposal for work on Starr Centre Drive last summer but did not receive funding for it. That is because the township, based on a formula including different aspects of the project, didn’t meet a high enough threshold for funding.
A governmental entity receives more points on a proposed project if two or more government bodies are working on the project together instead of just one. In this case, a community in Mahoning County could work with the county and receive more points toward receiving funding.
Township officials discussed different levels of local shares of the project and different loan amounts Wednesday afternoon to get the highest point total possible. Due to competition from across the state for funding, township officials did not release the specifics on what they plan to submit to OPWC later this summer on the project.
Keith Rogers, Canfield Township administrator and road superintendent, did say phase one of Starr Centre has an estimated total project cost of $416,000. That amount will be divided into a grant through OPWC, and a loan for the rest of the funding. That loan would paid off in 10 years with a zero-percent interest rate.
Phase one, which the township will apply for this summer, includes work from Old Tippecanoe Court and Starr Centre to about just west of Higgins-Reardon Funeral Home. That work will include the “replacement of the storm sewers that are failing,” Rogers said.
About 200 feet of “the road has actually failed there ... we went through 9 tons of cold mix there this past winter. That’s crazy,” he said.
Last winter, 9 tons of cold patch was used on the road for patches in a 200-foot section, and Rogers said the road has failed on the westbound side. Work also would include repairing and replacing infrastructure, such as the sewer system, curb, gutters and repaving the road.
“Our biggest issue here is to get the project funded,” Trustee Marie Cartwright said.
Phase two of the project, which would continue along Starr Centre toward Seville Drive, is estimated at a cost of $225,000 and would be applied for after phase one is complete.