WARREN — A long-sought, long-stalled sanitary sewer project in the Heaton Chute area of Weathersfield is being revived with a review meant to solve some of the issues that threw a wrench into the project.

For decades, residents in the area have sought sanitary sewer lines in the area, said county Commissioner Frank Fuda and Weathersfield Trustee Marvin McBride.

“I feel sorry for the people there. The families need help. There is a smell out there at night, it is just terrible, and it has been there for decades,” McBride said.

“We have to get this figured out; it is all open ditches,” Fuda said.

Kristofer Wilster, director of environmental health for the Trumbull County Combined Health District, said it is important for the project to move forward.

“We need to make this happen, because septics won’t do there,” Wilster said.

Now, some have septics in place, but they are failing. Some drain directly into the ditches.

The sanitary sewer infrastructure in the area has presented problems with completing the project that residents have been requesting for decades.

Although the Trumbull County Sanitary Engineer’s Office has obtained some funding sources and identified others for the $2.7 million project that will bring sewer connection to 83 properties, the infrastructure issues have presented problems, Trumbull County Engineer Randy Smith said.

Weathersfield officials, Niles officials and county officials met Wednesday to discuss the specific problems. The county will own the new lines constructed for the connections and maintain them; Niles owns the existing infrastructure the new lines will tie into.

Although the city and township have been feuding over Niles’ recent efforts to annex parts of the township into the city, officials from both communities put the bad blood aside during the meeting Wednesday.

Engineering and architecture firm Burgess and Niple of Painesville was hired to identify problems with the design of the project and examine the part of the Niles system where the new lines will need to tie in.

Older design drawings have flaws in them, and the section where the lines need to tie into the Niles sanitary sewer infrastructure needs improvements to handle the new flow. The city’s upgraded sanitary sewer plant can handle the flow, but the part of the system taking the flow from the Heaton Chute area to the main plant needs to be improved to handle the project, Smith said.

There also are issues in the sewer infrastructure, including downspouts and gutters connected to sanitary sewer lines, instead of storm sewers, filling the flow with water that doesn’t need to be treated at the plant, and falsely increasing the amount of water the plant has to clean. The project also could include fixing that issue, Wilster said.

Burgess and Niple will identify the different tie-in options and the costs, update designs and present the information for approval.

Once a path forward is selected, the project will be paid for in part with two grants secured already — a $750,000 grant from the Ohio Public Works Commission and a $250,000 grant from the Appalachian Regional Commission, and Smith said the county expects to receive $750,000 in Community Development Block Grants and a $950,000, 0-percent interest loan to pay for the rest of the project.

Smith said Niles will likely bill the county based on the flow counted by a master meter, and the county will send bills to the new residents.

rfox@tribtoday.com