ABC Water District explains progress at meeting tonight

BOARDMAN

ABC Water and Storm Water District aims to dissipate the clouds that have collected over Boardman’s storm water infrastructure. Representatives from the district, which intends to be operational by April, presented their progress in a meeting at Boardman Township Administration building Wednesday evening.

The strategic partnership of Austintown, Boardman and Canfield townships is the result of frustrations over a lack of storm services and potable water. It is independent of these townships and as a political entity, can borrow money and issue bonds and notes.

But ABC is less restricted than the township.

“Townships have this pool of money they can go after, and outside of that, it is very difficult to find grant money for the township to do storm water infrastructure projects,” explained Township Administrator Jason Loree.

ABC, however, plans to levy a utility fee on residents and business owners, based on the amount of non-pervasive surface on their property.

The district also has the advantage of a single issue area.

“There is a hyper focus on this problem. This is our only goal,” Loree said.

ABC has already begun mapping the area, and when the district is operational, it will begin identifying storm water projects in each community.

A significant amount of Monday’s meeting was spent explaining the complex nature of the flooding problems inundating Boardman.

Read more about the meeting in Thursday's Vindicator or on Vindy.com.