The Morning Journal (Lorain, OH)
City seeks loans for waterline improvement planning
New waterlines and a water plant improvement plan are on the drawing board for Lorain.
On March 20, Lorain City Council approved seeking more than $1.16 million in loans for the projects.
If the city gets quick approval on the loans and could get the projects going this year, blueprints and new construction likely will come in 2018, said Lorain Safety-Service Director Dan Given.
The city will seek a $506,750 loan from the Water Supply Revolving Loan Account, a fund of the Ohio Environmental Protection Agency.
That money would pay for consultants to help develop a capital improvement plan for the Lorain Water Treatment Plant, according to city legislation.
The city administration, Utilities Department, Council and residents have pondered the needs for upgrades with the water and
sanitary sewage treatment systems.
They also have considered how to pay for the work on the treatment plants and miles of underground pipes that serve those facilities.
Ward 2 Councilman Dennis Flores had the most questions about borrowing
money for the projects.
Lorain’s top utility workers have requested outside help drafting the plan that will carry the water treatment plant into the next century, Given said. The city has not selected a consultant for the work yet, he said.
The city also will seek a $405,400 loan from the same agency to pay for the Redhill Transmission Main Project.
The additional transmission main is needed to improve low pressure issues in the area known as the “Redhill pressure zone” around Redhill Drive.
That area deals with streets around Falbo Avenue east to Elyria Avenue, and from 36th Street south to 39th Street and the Lorain-Sheffield Township border.
The city is having discussions with residents there because of continuing water quality problems in that area due to numerous “dead end” waterlines there, Given said.
The city also will seek a $250,574 planning loan from the Ohio Water Development Authority for the project known as West Lorain Waterline Improvements.
Council on Feb. 6 authorized the city administration to enter a contract with a firm to design the project, Given said.
The loan will pay for that work, he said.
The money would pay for blueprints to install 13,240 feet, or more than two miles, of new waterlines to replace the current pipes aging underground, according to city plans.
The estimated design cost is $475,000 for the project, which has an estimated construction cost of $4 million. The streets are: • Skyline Drive from Leavitt Road to Oberlin Avenue
• Rite Drive from West 38th Street to Oxford Drive
• Oberlin Avenue from Meister Road to Tower Boulevard
• Leavitt Road from Jaeger Road to Cooper Foster Park Road
• Eighth Street from Oberlin Avenue to Allison Avenue