Commissioners approve $6.76 million in bonds for three sewer projects

ELYRIA — Lorain County commissioners voted Wednesday to issue more than $6.76 million in sanitary sewer bonds for three upcoming projects in Columbia, Elyria and Amherst townships. The projects include installing sewers along state Route 82 on the eastern side of Columbia Station for the Carvana facility in Elyria Township and south of Route 2 to encourage future growth there, as well as to provide sewers for 55 houses in the Hampshire Farms development in Amherst Township and in the future to replace aging septic systems along Oberlin Road. Community & Small Business Development Coordinator Don Romancak told commissioners the Emerald Sewer Project, worth more than $3.8 million, will make it "much more desirable and efficient to develop that commercial corridor." A large portion of the cost will be turned into assessments on future residences to be built in the forthcoming Emerald Woods and MLM Development properties in Columbia Township. The county will use the financing to "upsize" the sewers to handle more wastewater, protect existing residents "and set up future growth," Romancak said. Another $2.2 million in bonds will pay the costs of improvements meant to serve the $23 million, 200,000-square-foot Carvana facility and the 400 people it plans to employ on the former Spiegelberg Orchard property north of Route 2 in Elyria Township. Construction has gone "unbelievably well," Romancak said, and the money from the bonds will enable Carvana to handle the wastewater not only when the facility opens but in the future when up to 400 additional jobs could be added at the facility. Further sewer improvements will extend south of Route 2 into the Joint Economic Development District between Elyria Township and the city of Lorain and into Amherst Township as well, Romancak said. The work "sets the stage for growth with Carvana but also for future light industrial and commercial growth in the area," he said, with the bonds to be repaid from a portion of the real estate taxes generated by the Carvana facility. The Hampshire Farms project will use $714,000 in bonds to support an additional 55 homes in development in Amherst Township but "also solves a problem on Oberlin Road where they have the oldest home septic systems in the county," Romancak said. The development is off Oberlin Road between Route 2 and north of Kay Drive in Amherst Township. Romancak said that when appropriate, certain homeowners on septic who live between Kay Drive and Route 2 will be able to connect to the sewers with no tap-in fees required. He said the work is not only improving the community, but also preventing a problem before it occurs "as well as setting the state for future growth." Commissioners also voted to issue $1,173,000 in bond anticipation notes of constructing a new garage for the Lorain County Engineer's Office on Hadaway Street in Elyria. In other news The commissioners approved a $256,440 contract with U.S. Bridge in Cambridge for the Smith Road Bridge in Penfield Township in Lorain County and Spencer Township in Medina County to proceed with work on the span on or before July 15 with work to be finished on or before Sept. 1. Commissioners approved a contract worth $40,198 with Chagrin Valley Paving Inc. of Chagrin Falls to finish the Spring Street Park parking lot in Oberlin. The commissioners issued a proclamation declaring April 11-17 as National Public Safety Telecommunicators Week in Lorain County, which Commissioner Michelle Hung called a "much-deserved thank you to our dispatchers who perform a highly important job in public service." Contact Dave O'Brien at (440) 329-7129 or dobrien@chroniclet.com. Follow him at @daveobrienCT on Twitter.