It’s looking favorable that the Trumbull County commissioners will award American Rescue Plan Act funds to Brookfield Township to upgrade drainage in the Wildwood Drive area.
But, the county’s legal counsel is still reviewing the request, and has asked for photos and videos of flooding and other information, township Trustee Dan Suttles said Jan. 29.
Once a favorable legal opinion is at hand, the commissioners will have to decide how much money to allocate, Commissioner Mauro Cantalamessa said Nov. 28.
The project has the benefit of support from county Sanitary Engineer Gary Newbrough.
The pipes that take storm water from the Wildwood Drive-Northview Drive area are undersized and have two 90-degree bends, causing water to back up and jump Crestwood Drive during heavy rains, said township Road Supt. Jaime Fredenburg. Water pours into garages, basements and back yards, and has even floated sheds away, officials said.
The Trumbull County Engineer’s Office designed a project to increase the size of the pipes and replace the outflow pipe, which is collapsing. The estimated cost of the project is $417,000.
“We’re asking for anything the commissioners can help us with,” Suttles said at the commissioners’ Nov. 28 workshop, which only Cantalamessa attended. “We’d be willing to use some of our ARPA money, also, we just don’t have enough to do the project and other projects that we have on the books right now.”
Newbrough said the Valley View Drive area gets sanitary sewer backups because storm water enters the sanitary storm system through footer drains. He has said he would like to create a program to divert storm water out of the sanitary sewer system, and the improved drainage system would give him some place to send that water.
“This is necessary for the project that I also want to do in that area,” Newbrough said.
Cantalamessa said Wildwood flooding is something the commissioners have known about for some time.
“(We) never really could do much about it, but here we have an opportunity with this funding to do something about it,” he said. “I’m gonna urge the board to, at the very least, assist.”
At the Nov. 29 commissioner’s meeting, Commissioner Niki Frenchko said she “absolutely” wants to help fund the project. The lack of comprehensive stormwater management is her “pet peeve all over Trumbull County.”
