WORK CONTINUES DESPITE PANDEMIC … The Project 10 Sewer Separation on Brookside Drive is one of the major projects that is currently ongoing in Swanton. (PHOTO BY BILL O’CONNELL, STAFF)
By: Bill O’Connell
Despite the enormous disruption caused by the COVID 19 pandemic, the Village of Swanton is still trying to conduct as much business as possible, including going forward with several projects that have spent years in the planning stages. The Project 10 Sewer Separation, mandated by the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), recently began in earnest on March 13 as the residents of Brookside Drive will attest to.
Ironically, the State of Ohio’s Stay-at-Home order has minimized the amount of vehicle traffic navigating around the dump trucks, backhoes and other heavy equipment in the residential neighborhood.
At the April 13 Village Council meeting, Emergency Ordinance 2020-XX, authorizing and directing the Mayor and/or the Village Administrator to enter into an agreement with Jones & Henry Engineers for engineering services for Project 8 & 9 Sewer Separation.
Information on the Project, provided by the engineering firm, was discussed. The report read, in part, “One of the goals of Project 8 and 9 is to replace the existing sanitary/combined sewer on Mettabrook due to its shallow depth and susceptibility to freezing. In putting the proposal together for Project 8 and 9, we reviewed existing drawings of sewers in that area to conceptualize a preliminary path for new sewers. This allow us to make some assumptions on how the design would proceed to estimate how much time the design would take.”
“We found that the existing sewer on Mettabrook is shallow due to the shallow depth of the downstream sewers that were installed many decades ago. In 2002, a new sanitary sewer was installed on Garfield between the interceptor and Browning Road. The new sewer was installed three feet deeper.”
“Therefore, we can lower the sewer on Mettabrook three feet, gaining the depth we need to have the sewer installed below the frost line. The sewer work on Mettabrook, Garfield, Allen and West is required for the separation and to correct the deficiencies on Mettabrook.”
In other news, the Residential Meter Update Project, originally scheduled for late April through early May, has been postponed until further notice.
Village Administrator Rosanna Hoelzle updated the Council on the Downtown Façade Enhancement Program (DFEP). The DFEP has a $30,000 budget and allows for businesses within the designated downtown area to apply for matching funds for improvements to the front of their building. Five applications, requesting a total of $8,060, were received, reviewed, and approved.
Ms. Hoelzle also gave an update on the Swanton residents’ response rate to the 2020 Census. She reported that Swanton had a 53% response so far with the national response at 45.1%, State of Ohio at 49.1%, Fulton County at 51.3% and Lucas County at 46.1%.
The next meeting will take place on April 27, 2020 at 7:00 p.m. by way of Zoom video conferencing and live streamed to the Village of Swanton’s Facebook page.
Bill can be reached at publisher@thevillagereporter.com