Vermilion mayor: Proposed wastewater treatment plant announced Friday is county project, not city effort

Vermilion Mayor Russ Owens said Tuesday he wanted to reassure any concerned Vermilion residents that a proposed wastewater treatment plant within city limits that was discussed Friday by Lorain County commissioners is a county project, not a city project. He said he was just as surprised as the dozen or more Vermilion residents who called city officials with questions on Friday, as his own city struggles with updating its wastewater treatment infrastructure. "The Lorain County wastewater plant and sewer line is strictly a Lorain County project. This is not a Vermilion city project," Owens said Tuesday. He said he's had positive discussions about wastewater infrastructure with commissioners, but wasn't aware they planned to announce a $3.2 million consulting contract to design sewer lines that would connect to a proposed wastewater treatment plant in his city. Vermilion is under consent decree with the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency to keep its wastewater and stormwater separate, but upgrades to the city's existing wastewater plant will cost millions. The proposed Northwest Lorain County sanitary sewer and a proposed county wastewater treatment plant with Vermilion city limits could be completed within five years, commissioners said Friday. Proposed sewer lines will follow Baumhart Road south out of Vermilion and Brownhelm Township, into Henrietta Township then turn east through South Amherst to Oberlin Road in New Russia Township. Part of the plan requires land, but commissioners declined to say exactly how much they are looking to buy and where due to ongoing negotiations with landowners. Owens said some residents were concerned because a blacked-out portion of a map commissioners provided included an area with housing, not just open fields or farmland. He said some were concerned about whether the county's proposed facility was going in their backyard. Commissioner David Moore said Tuesday that the county hadn't bought any land yet. Negotiations are ongoing, he said. "And before we actually make a decision regarding a wastewater treatment plant we will engage the mayor for his input," Moore said. "All we did was start the process for the westerly lines from the area in question" to Russia Road and the Lorain County Regional Airport in New Russia Township. Vermilion City Council supported the plan two years ago, he said, and city leaders will be informed when a deal is close. A facility in Vermilion that's part of a countywide sewer consortium could be "wonderful" and cost-effective, Owens said. The city also could choose tie into Lorain city or Erie County sewers — or upgrade its existing wastewater treatment plant so it runs for another 20 years at a cost of many millions of dollars, Owens said. "Not our town, not any town of 10,000 people can be expected to take on that kind of a burden," he said. "There's no way." From construction to negotiating sewer rates, there are costs involved no matter the solution, Owens said. "As mayor of Vermilion, I've got to look at every single way and opportunity that we can do this that's in the interest of our residents that is affordable, and that's what I'm trying to do," Owens said. Contact Dave O'Brien at (440) 329-7129 or dobrien@chroniclet.com.