Commissioners OK $3.2 million contract to design western Lorain County sewers

Lorain County commissioners on Friday approved a nearly $3.2 million consulting agreement with engineering firm K.E. McCartney & Associates to design a sewer line that will connect Vermilion and New Russia Township. Commissioners said the Quarry Road sanitary trunk sewer extension, also known as the Northwest Lorain County sanitary sewer, will help drive economic development in the western part of the county. Commissioner Jeff Riddell said the goal is to finish the wastewater treatment plan within the next five years. "There's no reason why we can't finish it" in that time, he said. A portion of the proposed sewer line along Baumhart Road in Vermilion and Brownhelm Township already is designed. The remaining portion south of that passes through Henrietta Township and would extend east from there, through South Amherst, to Oberlin Road in New Russia Township, according to a map of the line commissioners shared at their meeting. The line would connect to a proposed multi million-dollar wastewater treatment plant in Vermilion, the location of which is still being worked out, Commissioner David Moore said. A portion of the map he displayed Friday was blacked out, he said, because the county is still in property negotiations with landowners in the area. The city of Vermilion is under a consent order from the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency to keep its wastewater and stormwater separate. Estimated costs for the necessary upgrades to its wastewater treatment facility to be in compliance with that order are in the multi-millions of dollars. Moore suggested Friday that the city and county could avoid the higher cost by spending $15 million to $20 million while adding sewer infrastructure and potentially more tax revenue to a growing area of the county. A countywide sewer consortium also has been discussed to help spread out the cost of new plants and lines. Riddell said part of his job is to "look forward and protect the citizens and taxpayers (from) things that we see coming that would be economically a problem or socially a problem." New sewer lines and a wastewater treatment plant would also help improve water quality in Lake Erie, which is something the EPA and the state of Ohio are trying to do, he said. "This sewer is not just for economic development, it's for the future protection should other communities run into the same problem Vermilion has," Riddell said. "The whole purpose of county government is to move the county forward. One of the reasons we're doing this work is because it's important." Contact Dave O'Brien at (440) 329-7129 or dobrien@chroniclet.com