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Trumbull officials invite 2,100 property owners to meeting on big waterline project
By Ed Runyan
WARREN
A $15 million proposal unveiled in November to run waterlines north from Braceville Township to West Farmington could get much larger depending on how about 2,000 property owners in western Trumbull County feel about it.
Letters are going out to 2,100 addresses in Braceville, Southington, Farmington, Champion and Warren townships inviting property owners to attend a meeting at 7 p.m. Thursday in the Warren G. Harding High School cafetorium to discuss it.
As many as 1,000 people are expected to attend.
In November, county officials said the “Blueprint to Prosperity” – the name they gave the project – would extend water from Newton Falls along Braceville-Robinson Road and state Route 534 through Southington and into West Farmington.
Its key feature is a zero-percent, 30-year loan from the Ohio Environmental Protection Agency and up to 50 percent loan forgiveness of the principal, reducing the cost by about half to those getting the water compared with building it without the assistance.
But at a meeting last week, about 20 officials discussed a greatly expanded project area more than double the size of the original. Last Tuesday’s meeting was to plan for the Thursday meeting.
Gary Newbrough, project planning director for the Trumbull County Sanitary Engineer’s Office, said property owners on many more roads are being asked if they want to participate in the project because the EPA funding is a “unique opportunity” and could make the project affordable for many people.
Property owners will be asked to answer a questionnaire by Feb. 12 indicating whether they want the waterline. Their responses will determine whether certain roads will be included in the project or not, Newbrough said.
The Ohio EPA wrote to the county commissioners Dec. 3, saying the project to run a waterline to West Farmington is “very likely to meet the requirements of the special-discount program” through the EPA’s Division of Environmental and Financial Assistance.
Mark Hutson, an engineer with Burgess and Niple of Painesville, said Trumbull County is probably “going to have some sort of project. It’s a question of how many routes would be added” based on the responses on the questionnaires.
Unlike most water projects, this one would have no assessment, with the cost being paid by property owners over 30 years on their water bill, according to the letter to property owners. There would be no cost for anyone not interested in the water.