Communities, engineer seek share of annual block grant funds

LISBON - Restoration of a historic bridge, improvements to public water and sewer systems, and repaving streets were among the projects Columbiana County commissioners are being asked to fund with their 2013 allocation of federal Community Development Block grant.

Commissioners are scheduled to receive $249,600 in CDBG money next year, and the funding requests received at Wednesday's public hearing from the 10 communities and county engineer's office totaled $730,546.

In addition, the Ohio Department of Development, which administers the CDBG program, has limited the number of projects that can be funded to four, with the result being fewer awards than past years.

County Engineer Bert Dawson asked commissioners for $40,000 of the $249,600 that is available to provide the last bit of funding he needs to restore a historic steel bowstring-arch bridge and relocate it to the county fairgrounds.

Dawson first proposed doing so in 2010 and has spent the past two years trying to secure the necessary funding, which he has done, except for the final $40,000.

The 105-foot bridge - which is basically a much smaller and older version of the Fort Pitt Bridge - once crossed the Middle Fork of the Little Beaver Creek on South Market Street in Lisbon. It has been stored on the engineer's property after replaced 50 years ago with a concrete span.

The bridge is believed to have been constructed in the 1880s, and Dawson has proposed moving it to the fairgrounds, where it would be used a pedestrian walkway spanning a ravine that separates the campground and the midway.

The cost of the project is an estimated $542,203, with Dawson securing a $433,762 grant from the Ohio Department of Transportation to cover the majority. Although the application stated the fair board is contributing $68,441, he said it his understanding the organization only pledged $40,000.

The following is a list of the other applications:

Perry Township

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Communities, engineer seek share of annual block grant funds