WARREN — Hubbard Township Trustee Jason Tedrow and residents supportive of saving the Coalburg dam turned in a $295,700 American Rescue Plan Act application that would allow the group to do a down- stream mitigation study of what would happen if it is improved, instead of removed.

The group, which included township residents Mary Lou Reeder and Bill Kilar, suggested saving the dam would potentially create a tourist attraction in the area.

“It would positively affect small businesses in the area,” Tedrow said.

Once the study is completed, Tedrow said the owners of the privately-owned property, Coalburg Land Partners LLC, would look at ways to make it open to the public, including selling it to a government agency.

“I have been working to get together with the Trust for Public Lands and the state attorney general’s office,” he said. “The owner has been 100% supportive.”

Commissioner Denny Malloy repeated prior concerns about property owners allowing the county to pay for repair of the dam, only to later sell it to another person that would not allow the public to use it.

“My big thing is there are thousands of lakes in Trumbull County,” Malloy said. “There are a lot of privately owned lakes and dams. I’ve spoken with people with the Sportsman Club. They were not allowed to utilize the property.”

Malloy said that other private lake and owners will be watching what their county is doing with the Coalburg Dam. They also may want the county to provide financial support in maintaining and improving their properties.

Tedrow said property owners are concerned about guaranteeing they will sell the property, because they don’t know if the public entity’s purchase price would be significantly below the fair market evaluation for the land.

Commissioner Niki Frenchko said any approved sale price would have to be contingent on the property’s appraised value.

The commissioners requested Trumbull County Auditor Martha Yoder to place the Coalburg Dam request near the front of the list for review by an attorney from the law firm of Baker, Dublikar, Beck, Wiley & Matthews, which has been hired to check the details of all ARPA requests to ensure they quality to be funded under federal government rules.

Hubbard resident Mary Lou Reeder said area residents are very committed to preserving the lake.

“It is very difficult for some residents to attend these meetings, because they are so emotional about the possibility of losing the lake,” Reeder said. “It is a positive experience of living on the lake. We want to make it available to people in our community.”

In the group’s request for ARPA funds, Tedrow wrote the renovation of the dam would affect an estimated 6,793 households in Hubbard and another 1,827 Brookfield households, each community having household incomes of greater than $40,272.