Officials pass $6.7M bonds

Lorain County commissioners approved more than $6.7 million in bond issuances in support of three sanitary sewer projects for further development.

On April 7, the commissioners agreed to $6,762,600 in bonds for three separate projects.

The commissioners approved $3,804,600 for the Emerald Sewer Project that will extend the sanitary sewer from the former Emerald Woods Golf Course in Columbia Station to a parcel of land south.

Community and Small Business Development Coordinator Don Romanchak said the project extends the sewer.

The upgrade along state Route 82 to Columbia Station makes it much more desirable and efficient to develop the commercial corridor.

An additional $2,244,000 in bonds will be issued to service the new Carvana facility in Elyria Township that will support a minimum of 400 jobs and a total of $23 million investment in the 200,000-square-foot facility.

“They’re already recruiting and hiring up,” Romanchak said. “The construction there has gone unbelievably well, very little complaints as they were constructing.

“Now what this will do is actually enable a sewer to go in that’s going to be substantial enough to accommodate Carvana as it exists today. It also will allow for Carvana to expand. They do have plans to expand sometime in the future, hopefully, sooner than later.”

Romanchak noted a potential Carvana expansion could raise the number of jobs at the facility to between 600 and 800. A third project with $714,000 in bond issuances will support the Hampshire Farms development for an additional 55 houses in Amherst Township, just off of Oberlin Road between state Route 2 and Kay Drive.

Romanchak said homeowners in the area will be able to connect to the sewer without paying any tap-in fees and he wants to solve a problem before one occurs.