The North Royalton City Council unanimously adopted a resolution at their October 20 meeting that authorizes the Mayor to apply for assistance from the State’s infrastructure program. The assistance is for the 2021 Issue 1 funding year. This year, the project involves the West 130 Street and York Road Sanitary Sewer Improvement Projects. According to North Royalton City Engineer, Mark Schmitzer, “The W. 130 Street Project is to build the lateral connections from the existing sanitary sewer on W. 130 Street (Strongsville side) to the individual properties on the North Royalton side between Royalton Road and the Ohio Turnpike. The York Road project is to install an eight-inch diameter sanitary sewer between Cinnamon Lakes Boulevard and Albion Road where there is a ‘gap’ in sewers.” The cost of these projects has not been finalized at this time.
Last year, Council asked for Issue 1 funding assistance that would help fund the resurfacing of Abbey Road from Royalton Road to Albion Road. That project did not receive a high score on a funding request for the Abbey Road project.
Issue 1, the statewide program that issues a combination of loans and grants, will, once again, be sought for the chance at funding some of the city’s infrastructure projects for next year. The county administered program is reviewed by District One Public Works Integrating Committee, consisting of Cuyahoga Countywide officials. Criteria for funding is based on the needs of the city; the age and condition of the project applied for; health and safety concerns; the enhancement to economic development; the readiness to proceed as well as other projects being funded. Those that can apply include not only cities, but also counties, villages, townships, regional sewer, sanitary and water systems, covering a wide range of capital improvement projects. “From 2000 to 2016, the State Public Works Program funded $583 million in infrastructure projects across Cuyahoga County,” according to the Cuyahoga County Planning Commission (CCPC).
According to the Commission’s website, “District One has approximately $28,212,000 in Ohio Public Works Commission funding, available through the State Capital Improvement Program and Revolving Loan Program, and the Local Transportation Improvement Program in fiscal year 2022. Last year, $29.848 million in the form of grants and loans was available through the Issue 1 program.”
The deadline for filing the application of request is Thursday, November 5. The preliminary project ranking will be released on Friday, January 15, 2021. The projects will be selected on Tuesday, February 23, 2021 and the grants and loans will be released in July 1, 2021.
By GLORIA PLEVA KACIK
Contributing Writer