Lorain County receives $67.4 million infrastructure award to spur development near regional airport

Lorain County will receive $67.4 million for sewer upgrades to spur a "mega site" development surrounding the Lorain County Regional Airport. The state's controlling board approved the funds from the All Ohio Future Fund on Monday. The money will be used for construction of water and wastewater/sewer upgrades and design of a wastewater treatment plant in the area around the airport on Russia Road out to Baumhart Road in hopes of attracting development to the area between state Route 2 and the turnpike, Commissioner Dave Moore said on Monday. Moore, a Republican, said the county is "rolling out the red carpet," to bring developers to the area, but growth will not happen without wastewater and sewer upgrades. Adding sewer lines there will "change the game" in marketing the county for national and international development, Moore said. At the core of the infrastructure afforded by the state's dollars is a mega site, a 1,000-acre area dedicated to manufacturing and industrial growth centered around the county's regional airport. The airport will also see its runway lengthened to 7,000 feet from about 5,000 feet. Lengthening the runway allows the regional airport to accommodate freight traffic and compete with Cleveland Hopkins International Airport for cargo shipping from companies like Amazon, UPS and FedEx. The lengthened runway could fill a gap left by the closure of Cleveland's Burke Lakefront Airport. Talks of closing the Cuyahoga County regional airport started last fall, but, to date, the airport remains open. State Rep. Gayle Manning, R-Avon, said discussions of Burke's fate came up when she and her son, state Sen. Nathan Manning, R-North Ridgeville, were pushing to see the funds allocated to Lorain County. "We just kept saying how important it was," Gayle Manning said. "We made sure (the Controlling Board) heard from JobsOhio and Team NEO … If we had something like this ready, Intel could have been up our way." Intel is in the process of building a $20 billion campus in Licking County. It is expected to be done in the next decade. Like Manning, state Rep. Kellie Deeter, R-Norwalk, was excited about the funds flowing to a project in rural Lorain County. "I think the goal is for it to enhance infrastructure and business growth in the region," Deeter said. She said there is no specific timeframe for the funds to be released, but that it could be within the next few weeks. "It's awesome the state is willing to release those funds to the small, rural parts of the county where we're not used to seeing a lot of help," she said. The All Ohio Future Fund money requires a $22.4 million match. Those funds are "up for debate," Moore said, though he did not expect the local dollars to be an issue. He said the county has $20 million cash on hand, previously allocated to the new jail that could be moved to help with the economic development project; and it expects to receive $13.9 million plus interest for the sale of Midway Mall by the fall. "I would rather see that money used for economic development," Moore said of the funds allocated to the county jail. He also hoped to see the local match split between the county and city of Vermilion, as the expansion of sewers could help the lakefront city avoid a U.S. Environmental Protection Agency mandate to either overhaul or build a new wastewater treatment plant. Vermilion Mayor Jim Forthofer said the city received an initial estimate for work required for its wastewater treatment plant at $76 million. "For a little town, that's not possible," he said. "It would kill us." While Vermilion began grappling with its EPA mandates several years ago, the county began its talks about a wastewater consortium that the city could tie into and turn its current wastewater treatment plant into a pump station. "I really think that would be the best long-term solution," he said, adding Vermilion would no longer need to worry about its plant capacity. He said the city previewed the idea with the EPA, which will ultimately have to sign off on the plan, and received positive feedback. He said discussions around Vermilion funding a portion of the local match had not happened yet. "It's forced an issue we would have to address sooner or later," Forthofer said of the EPA mandate. "We're all going to grow in housing and businesses and industry, so is our infrastructure going to be ready for it? This is a great way for Vermilion to have some of its infrastructure be more elastic." The sewer expansion funded in Monday's award would allow the creation of a regional sewer district, known as a 6119 plan after the chapter of Ohio Revised Code that governs its creation. Establishing a regional sewer district for the collection, treatment and disposal of wastewater first requires a petition, public hearings, a court ruling, further hearings, a plan of operations, and then another, final hearing. The regional sewer district would not be limited to just the townships impacted by the new sewer lines laid through the state's $67.4 million grant, but open to Lorain, Amherst, Elyria and other cities, Moore said. Lorain County Rural Wastewater District, another 6119 that serves portions of Lorain County, is in support of the project, Moore said. The All Ohio Future Fund, established by the 2024-25 state operating budget, saw about $750 million distributed to local communities to help prepare sites to attract economic development projects. The allocations approved Monday were the last for the fund, which has sunset to make way for a brownfield remediation fund appropriated in the 2026-27 budget. Gov. Mike DeWine and Lt. Gov. Jim Tressel lauded the grant awards in a news release on Monday. There's a lot of work that goes into preparing a site for development, so we're literally laying the groundwork for future jobs and economic development in these communities," Tressel said. "We've already generated interest in these locations, and by proactively preparing them with needed infrastructure, these sites won't be vacant for long." Similarly, Ohio Department of Development Director Lydia Mihalik the funding announcement was "paving the way for major business investments in Ohio." "These targeted investments ensure Ohio remains a competitive, business-ready state — equipping communities today for the jobs and economic impact of tomorrow," she said. An exact timeline for the work was not immediately available Monday. The county is marketing the mega site, Moore said, but a tenant has not been announced. Moore said the state funds are the first in a line of grants and private investment expected in the site. The county previously applied for federal funds to spur the project but has not received an award yet. The award on Monday is bigger than just the mega site at the airport, Moore said. "This is a generational change," Moore said. "... This changes the development of this county to where it should be, which is along Route 2 and the Turnpike." Contact Carissa Woytach at (440) 329-7245 or cwoytach@chroniclet.com