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Granton looking for grants for Main Street rebuild

Within the next two years, Clark County is planning to reconstruct County Highway K and remove decades old concrete from beneath its layers of blacktop. Since the project will also go through Granton’s Main Street, the village is considering its options to have the old water and sewer lines replaced while they are easy to access.

At the past couple village board meetings, there has been some discussion and planning taking place to determine whether or not it would be possible to have the lines beneath Main Street replaced, and just what the scope of that project would be. Joye Eichten, the village clerk, said with the county coming through and tearing up the concrete that has been in place since the 1940s, this is the best opportunity the village has to access those old pipes and get them updated.

“When the county comes through, they will be taking out the concrete, so this will be the closest we will be able to get to our water and sewer lines,” she said. “If they’re going to come though and fix the road, it would be better to do that now while the road is torn up. Otherwise, if there is a water main break or a sewer problem, we will have to tear up the entire road again to fix it and it will all be on our dime 100 percent.”

Most, if not all of the water and sewer lines that currently make up the village’s infrastructure beneath Main Street are more than 80 years old, with the clay tile sewer lines and ductile iron water lines first being placed when Granton’s watertower was built in 1939. Since then, there has been years of nearby tree growth, winter freezes and thaws, and general wear and tear that has affected the lines. Whenever there is a leak or a problem with a part of the main line, the entire system has to be shut down for repairs.

“The water main that runs down that road gives water to most of the village,” said village waterworks director Jared Thomas. “There are really old fire hydrants on that street and the valves do not fully close or operate as they should, so when there is a leak we had to shut off the whole village. So as a whole we need a better infrastructure.”

While a potential project in Granton is still in its infancy, there have been two project options that have been discussed by the village board. The first project option covers the entire length of Granton’s Main Street, from Railroad Street on the north side of the village, to Romadka Avenue on the south side. In addition to the lines beneath the road, Eichten said this project will also cover the costs of installing lighting, new curb and gutter and sidewalks, which would be added from 5th Street southward to the Granton Convenience Store. The second project option that has been discussed trims the scope of the project down to only covering replacement of the water and sewer lines from Railroad Street to 5th Street.

“Project A is from Railroad Street to Romadka and lights and sidewalks all the way up to the C-Store,” she said. “The other project just covers segment A from Railroad Street to 5th Street, just water and sewer. We haven’t looked at other options at this point. We are still in the beginning stages.”

In total, the entire project is estimated to cost about $2.7 million. With such a large price tag, Eichten said the village has been applying for grant funding for the project and looking at alternative funding options to see the project through.

“Right now, option one, the total project cost is $2.7 million,” she said. “(After grant funds and reimbursements from Clark County), the remaining balance that we would likely have to pay is $732,000… The village has a borrowing capacity of $694,000, with $100,000 currently out on loan. It leaves less money to work with. We would be about $200,000 short. Now, there are other options for funding this project that includes lights, sidewalks, curb and gutter, we can cut all of that out of the project if we need to.”

Although there has been a tentative project planned, and the costs of that project calculated, Eichten said it is not known yet if the village will be able to go that big in terms of scale of the project. A big indicator of just what the village will be able to afford will come at the end of the month in the form of a Perf score, which will tell the Board how likely their project will be to get the funding it needs.

“The Perf score is given by the grant people to rate your project,” she said. “It is awarded to every project in February. It is a very good indication of where the project lies for grant money. So let’s say there’s 100 people who applied for the grant, if we fall at number 10, we know we are going to be awarded some grant money. If we are at number 1 we are going to get all the money that we applied for. Without it, it will change the scope of the project, we may have to replace a smaller section of water and sewer lines or not do it for another 10 years.”

After the village receives its score at the end of the month, Eichten said there will be discussion among the Board on just what the village will be able to afford at the end of the day. Once that is decided, they will hold a public meeting to inform members of the community what they plan to do.

“Once we get the grant Perf score, we will have enough to proceed in the next couple of months and have a public meeting,” she said. “It depends on what happens with the grant money, until we know, we can’t have a public meeting. You could say that we are looking into the possibility of a project should funding be available.”

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