Trending
AUSTINTOWN -- Trustees on Monday approved plans for some work and some play.
Officials cleared the township to spend approximately $580,000 for retention pond upgrades at the Walmart property and for potential playground improvements at Austintown Township Park.
The retention pond project is the third component in Austintown's plan to make use of roughly a million dollars in American Rescue Plan funding.
Formally, trustees approved an amendment to a subaward agreement between the township and Mahoning County commissioners, which increases Austintown's ARP funding to more than $1.124 million.
Township Administrator Mark D'Apolito said the bidding will begin sometime after the holidays, and he expects the construction costs will be somewhere around $400,000.
The project is intended to protect the neighborhoods around Wilcox Road from flooding should the retention pond on the west side of Walmart fail. The pond discharges underneath Wilcox Road into a nearby stream.
."The original pond was installed under different stormwater standard practices," D'Apolito said. "It would be a whole different pond if you built that today."
He said many of the necessary upgrades are still in the design phase because the project requires the improvements to be made within the existing footprint of the retention pond.
"We need to renovate the pond to accommodate the water flow it's receiving because it has deteriorated over the years," D'Apolito said.
He said the improvements likely will include various culverts to slow down the water flow to the pond. While there has been no flooding beyond the boundaries of the pond, D'Apolito said, crews have had to perform maintenance that should not be necessary for a retention pond.
He said that has included clearing logs, dirt and sediment from the pond's outflow, because it's not staying in the basin, which could cause problems with heavy rainfall.
D'Apolito said construction should begin sometime next summer, but the township will wait until weather favors the project because they will have to maintain the flow during construction.
The two other components of the township's plans for the ARP funds included the street sweeper they recently purchased for approximately $225,000. The street sweeper keeps road debris and salt out of the stormwater system, thereby improving water quality.
Over the summer, the township also completed culvert repairs along Wickliffe Circle, Fitch Boulevard and near the intersection of Pinebrook Court and Woodgate Street. Those improvements cost about $333,000, D'Apolito said.
Trustees also gave D'Apolito the green light to purchase $180,000 worth of new playground equipment for Austintown Township Park from CPSI, a state-approved cooperative purchasing vendor. That money will come from State of Ohio Capital Budget funds.
D'Apolito said the state allocated that money for Austintown in summer of 2021, but the plans for the improvements still have to be approved by the state.
"Trustees authorized me to sign for playground equipment because of concerns about a possible year-end deadline," he said. "So if that plan gets approved, I then have the ability to move forward on playground equipment quickly before the end of the year."
D'Apolito said he is still determining what equipment will be added.
"I have to match the equipment to the money," he said. "We have a list of some items in place with the vendor, but we're waiting on the estimates for the installation costs and ancillary costs to see what pieces we can install."
dpompili@vindy.com