WILMINGTON — It looks likely that an enclosed, vertical platform lift will be added inside the Sabina Municipal Building, providing handicap accessibility to the Sabina Historical Society’s museum located upstairs.
The project is similar to an elevator, and is not to be confused with a lift attached to a stairway handrail.
The project is poised to receive a portion of the $143,000 that Clinton County will obtain for eligible projects from the biennial Community Development Block Grant (CDBG) Allocation Grants program.
Amy W. Schocken, a partner of Community Development Consultants of Ohio Inc., met Monday with Clinton County commissioners and provided a review of projects that are on the table. At a maximum, four local projects can be selected for part of the $143,000.
The vertical platform lift for the Sabina Municipal Building would get $43,000 of that total amount if commissioners approve it when they make the final determination.
The town of New Vienna also is in line to benefit from the CDBG dollars available to the county to allot locally. A new roof for the New Vienna Community Center is being considered for $61,000 of the CDBG funds.
And $28,000 of CDBG allocation funds will go toward demolition of a dilapidated, vacant building next to the new village park on Main Street if OK’d by the commissioners. The property owners have said they will donate the land to the Village upon demolition.
Schocken told commissioners that funding for the above three projects would leave $11,000 unspent from the $143,000 total the county is slated to receive. Commissioners immediately mentioned a handicap-accessible project for the County Annex Building on South Nelson Avenue in Wilmington where the Board of Elections moved earlier this year.
The City of Wilmington itself has a proposed project, too, but it is a competitive grant. A grant is called competitive when it must beat out other applications for the same pool of grant dollars.
The proposal is to replace the main waterline on Grant Street between Sugartree and Doan Streets. The current 4-inch waterline is at least 70 years old, states the City’s proposal.
According to Schocken, the waterline needs to be a minimum 6 inches for fire protection. Likewise, the City’s written proposal states the waterline “would not provide adequate flow for firefighting.”
The waterline project potentially qualifies for what’s called a Critical Infrastructure Grant, said Schocken. However, such a grant would not pay to replace the service lines — which are the service lateral lines to houses.
Whenever waterline mains are replaced, service lines made of lead must be replaced, too, said Schocken.
In the coming weeks, commissioners will make their final determinations. Grant awards, whether they are CDBG Allocation Grants or the competitive CDBG Critical Infrastructure Grant, will be announced in September.
Clinton County Commissioner Mike McCarty asked whether townships cutting down ash trees would be eligible for CDBG allocation dollars. Schocken said it would not, because there isn’t much in the county’s townships that qualify as low-income areas, per the census, and moreover removing trees does not really eliminate slum and blight, another criterion.
Reach Gary Huffenberger at 937-556-5768.
