Beavercreek schools seeks to renew tax in March
Before the tornado struck, the county had already planned to replace the stations with a gravity sewer and larger-capacity system. The three pump stations, which are within the tornado’s disaster zone, sustained “significant damage” and are therefore eligible for the disaster mitigation funds, according to the resolution county commission approved last week.
Jason Tincu, Greene County sanitary engineer, said the damage to the stations overall was minor.
“The tornado brought light to the fact that the pump stations need replaced. There’s no back-up plan for future disasters,” Tincu said. “We already had a project planned to run gravity sewers and abandon the three stations. This is a really good opportunity for us to get federal funds and save taxpayers a chunk of money.”
County officials said the storm brought down several trees which created barriers and challenges to access the stations and get the pumps running on back-up generators. The plan to replace the stations with a gravity system is aimed at mitigating the risk of power losses and maintaining continuity of operation, and increasing the system’s capacity.
County officials said this project would support new developments with the increase in capacity to the sewage system. Commissioners noted the Mission Point project by the Miller Valentine Group — a development plan aimed at supporting the increase defense contracts tied to Wright-Patterson Air Force Base. The first office building associated with Mission Point was built off Colonel Glenn Highway near I-675.
The grant program could cover up to 80% of the county’s project costs and requires a local match of 20%. The county’s sewer fund has enough to cover the 20% funding requirement, according to the commissioner’s resolution.
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